World's Most Expensive and Useless Drawbridge Erected

Construction crews have put into place a piece of giant drawbridge -- a 466-ton, 155-foot span -- that forms a critical element of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River. The Washington Post describes it as "one of the largest draw bridges in the world." It also may be one of the most expensive: The drawbridge is adding $186 million to the cost of the multi-billion bridge project.

Furthermore, I would argue, The Woodrow Wilson drawbridge may be one of the most useless in the world. The Post, which breathlessly describes the erection of the span, never inquires why it is needed in the first place, noting only, "The new bridge will open about 60 times a year instead of the 250 times that the old bridge opens because, at 78 feet in the air rather than 50, more boats will be able to pass beneath it."

Sixty times a year? Taxpayers are spending $186 million so vessels can pass underneath the bridge at the rate of once every six days?

And what ships be those 60? There is little commercial shipping traffic along this stretch of the Potomac -- the Washington Post printing plant gets its paper delivered upstream from the bridge, but there's not much else -- and no Navy traffic. A handful of coast guard vessels may ply the waterways around Washington, D.C., but otherwise most of the maritime traffic consists of yachts and other pleasure craft. I would love to know the identity of those 60 vessels that are costing taxpayers $186 million. If they belong to private citizens, then the drawbridge would rank as one of the greatest boondoggles of in the world.