Bid to build the last piece of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge came in lower than expected

Bids were opened on May 1 for the last of three sections of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland, and the lowest bid was 25% below the engineers’ estimate, the Washington Post reported.

The bid was $191 million to build two spans from east of the drawbridges in the Potomac River to the Maryland shore. The section will be the largest highway construction contract ever awarded in Maryland.

The entire Woodrow Wilson Bridge project is now 13% below budget.

Neil Pedersen, Maryland’s acting highway administrator, said the unexpectedly low bid was due to a bigger pool of competing contractors. The state attracted more contractors because of intensive marketing and the fact that there are fewer big highway projects currently under way nationwide.

The total project involves widening 7.5 miles of the Capital Beltway and rebuilding four interchanges to connect to the wider bridge.