The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (also known as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge or the Wilson Bridge) is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia, and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The original bridge was one of only a handful of drawbridges in the Interstate Highway System. It contained the only portion of the Interstate System owned and operated by the federal government until construction was completed and it was turned over to the Virginia and Maryland departments of transportation. The Wilson Bridge carries Interstate 95 (I-95) and I-495 (Capital Beltway). The drawbridge on the original span opened about 260 times a year, frequently disrupting traffic on a bridge that carried about 250,000 cars each day. The new, higher span requires fewer openings. The bridge's west abutment is in Virginia, a small portion is in Washington DC, and the remaining majority of it is within Maryland (because that section of the Potomac River is within Maryland's borders). About of the western midspan portion of the bridge crosses the tip of the southernmost corner of the District of Columbia. It is the only bridge in the US that crosses the borders of three state-level jurisdictions (DC, Maryland, and Virginia). The section in Washington DC is also the shortest segment of Interstate Highway between state lines. The bridge is named for the 28th president of the US, Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), a native of Staunton, Virginia. While he was president, Wilson reportedly spent an average of two hours a day riding in his automobile to relax or to "loosen his mind from the problems before him". President Wilson was an advocate of automobile and highway improvements in the US. In 1916, he said, "My interest in good roads is [...] to bind communities together and open their intercourse, so that it will flow with absolute freedom and facility". Original bridge A bridge at Jones Point was first proposed by the District Highway Department in August 1952 as part of a study of Potomac River bridge crossing needs. The bridge linked to US Route 1 and the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway in Virginia. In Prince George's County, Maryland, the bridge would connect with Overlook Avenue and Chesapeake Street. It was also intended to link with the proposed extension of the George Washington Memorial Parkway/Anacostia–Kenilworth Parkway (later built as the southern leg of