Aqueduct Bridge (Potomac River) - Building Key Bridge

Building Key Bridge

Proposals were made to replace Aqueduct Bridge as early as 1901. But these proposals were delayed when the McMillan Plan was issued in 1902. Congress approved the construction of a wooden superstructure that extended outward from the upstream side of the bridge's deck to carry electric trolleys between Georgetown and Rosslyn in 1902. Construction began in May 1903, and involved reconstruction of one of the bridge's piers. Built by the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad, trolleys of the railroad and its successor, the Washington and Old Dominion Railway, traversed the bridge until its closure in 1923.

Terrible ice jams were a routine hazard on the Potomac River into the 1960s. Although the jams often stuck against the bridge, it weathered them well until 1908. Ice damaged some of the bridge's piers, requiring reconstruction of Pier No. 1 in the summer. Engineers discovered that many of the bridge's piers had been undermined by water, and rush repairs were made. But the aging structure continued to suffer damage, and by September 1912 the bridge was leaning dangerously to the west. Fears that the bridge would give way during the spring ice jams worsened. The bridge piers were extensively repaired again in 1913.