<cal2>Fall 2000. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10) secures $2 million in federal transportation funds to study the feasibility of building a new bridge across the Potomac River, north of the American Legion Bridge.
May 24, 2001. Wolf asks for the study to be canceled after looking at aerial maps. "How many homes are you willing to take out to build a bridge? 100, 200, 300, 400, 500? How many is worth it?" wrote Wolf.
May 25, 2001. The Federal Highway Administration officially announces the cancellation of the study.
April 28, 2003. Gov. Mark Warner (D) meets with Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) and Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams (D) to affirm their support to initiate a new "Techway" study. At the meeting, Ehrlich pledges $400,000 complementing the $400,000 in Virginia's six-year transportation plan earmarked or a Techway study, which "should allow both states to do origination and destination studies, plot traffic patterns in the region," says Kevin Hall, Warner's deputy press secretary.
October, 2003. The Virginia Department of Transportation initiates an origin and destination study, examining the commuting patterns of people who cross the bridge every day. "Everybody's been talking theory with regard to movement back and forth across the river," said Tom Farley, VDOT's Northern Virginia administrator. "This is a way to talk about the facts." Opponents say this is just a first step towards a larger Techway study.
Nov. 6, 2003. Members of the Montgomery County, Md., Council, unanimously opposed to a second river crossing in Montgomery County, and the Frederick County Board of Commissioners meet and agree that any new crossing should be placed at Point of Rocks, which connects U.S. 15 in Maryland with U.S. 15 in Virginia. A bridge already exists at Point of Rocks. "We have the right-of-ways in place," said Frederick Commissioner Bruce Reeder (D-At Large). But Robert Flanagan, Maryland's Secretary of Transportation who also attended the meeting, said the state is not interested in a new bridge. "We are not planning, in any way or form whatsoever, a new crossing," Flanagan said.
MAY, 2004 Loudoun County supervisors, in a meeting with the Leesburg, Town Council, discuss the development of Loudoun’s Western Transportation Corridor. “The doors are open to negotiation,” Supervisor Mick Staton (R-Sugarland) said. “Maryland officials said the Inter-county Connector [ICC] would never be built, and now it’s their number one transportation priority.”
May 10, 2004. Virginia Department of Transportation releases the study, "Morning Commuter Traffic Crossing American Legion Bridge." "It is hoped that data and findings will be useful in traffic management decisions and ongoing and future studies," according to the executive summary of the report.
Reporters Ken Moore, David Harrison, Ari Cetron and Andrea Zentz contributed to this timeline.