The Potomac River Bridge project involved replacing the original the six-lane Woodrow Wilson Bridge drawbridge by construction of twin six-lane replacement bascule bridges. These new bridges include double leaf bascule spans over the main navigation channel, close to the Virginia shore. Staging for the project required that the new Outer Loop (southern) bridge be completed first. Once it opened to bi-directional traffic in 2006, the original bridge was demolished and a new Inner Loop (northern) bridge was completed in 2008.

The first contract involved dredging approximately 340,000 CY of material for an east-west construction channel through a submerged aquatic mitigation (SAV) bed in the middle of the river. The dredged material was barged down the river to the Chesapeake Bay and then up the James River. Between October 20, 2000 and February 14, 2001, the material was off-loaded at the Port Tobacco at Weanack placement site in Charles City County, Virginia and used to reclaim land previously mined for sand and gravel. This was accomplished .

The second contract involved the majority of foundations for the bridge, as well as site grading and bulkhead improvements in Jones Point Park. The foundations include steel pipe piles ranging in diameter from 48 to 72 inches for the river piers and Pier V-2, the first pier on the Virginia shore. The other Virginia piers include 24-foot square pre-stressed concrete piles. The length of the piles vary from about 40 feet for the concrete piles to about 200 feet for the larger steel pipe piles. A concrete pile cap also was included in this contract.

The third contract was been split up into three separate contracts. This included the remainder of the construction for the Potomac River. This work included pre-stressed segmental concrete V-piers, steel box girders, concrete deck, operator's house, machinery, electrical controls, signing and roadway and aesthetic lighting. In addition, this contract included a few foundations that overlaped the original bridge and which were not be accessible in the previous foundation contract. Demolition of the existing bridge was also included.