In March 1914, Representative Charles Creighton Carlin of Virginia sponsored legislation to replace Aqueduct Bridge with a new, $1 million structure.

[11] Secretary of War Lindley Miller Garrison, who oversaw the Corps, agreed that a new bridge was necessary in December.

[16] Rep. William C. Adamson, chairman of the House Committee on Public Works, challenged Swanson and declared that the new bridge should be placed where the old one was.

[18] Garrison tried to break the deadlock on January 9 by issuing a report that declared the existing bridge unsafe, and requesting that the new one be built in the same location.

[23] On February 3, 1916, vehicular traffic over Aqueduct Bridge was limited by the city to a single automobile at a time due to its dangerous nature.

[34] Wyeth and Tyler's initial design for the bridge was a double-deck structure with a single, high span.

[33][35] In January 1917, the Corps of Engineers found that inflation in the price of construction materials made it necessary to ask for $300,000 more in funding from Congress.

[37] But citizen pressure and the danger of Aqueduct Bridge's collapse due to ice flows in the spring[38] convinced Congress to pay the money.

Construction contracts were drawn up in late February,[39] and excavation work on the D.C. abutments began in March.

[40] The first coffer dam for construction of the piers was sunk in May 1918,[41] and the old Aqueduct Bridge formally closed on July 9.

[44] The project ran out of money, and Tyler requested and won an additional $1.1 million from Congress in 1920 to finish the work.

[47] The razing of the old Aqueduct Bridge began in December 1933, when its superstructure and most of the above-water portions of its piers were removed.

[48] [49] The bases of the piers were retained to protect the Key Bridge from ice floes, but only one survives today.

[53] The bridge is an open-spandrel, arched[52][54] structure oriented in a north-south direction[55] and constructed of reinforced concrete and steel.

[55] The northern terminus of the bridge is just east of the site of Francis Scott Key's home, which was dismantled in the late 1940s.

A cloverleaf ramp from southbound George Washington Memorial Parkway connects to northbound North Lynn Street just before the bridge.

Southbound traffic may turn right onto an off-ramp leading to northbound George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Traffic wishing to access southbound Interstate 66 (the Custis Memorial Parkway) must do so by traversing local Rosslyn streets.

A steel railing was added on the external side of the sidewalks, and 30-foot-high (9.1 m) "cobrahead" aluminum lampposts were installed every 120 feet (37 m).

The 1955 railing was removed, and a precast concrete parapet 2 feet 8 inches (0.81 m) high with 6-foot (1.8 m) recessed panels between the balusters was installed.

Type 16 Washington Upright Lampposts, each 14 feet (4.3 m) high, were installed above the apex of each arch and atop each pier.

The architectural engineering firm of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) was hired to inspect the bridge.

[60] The sonic echo/impulse response method was used to identify areas within the concrete where cables had disintegrated or where corrosion had created voids.

[64] In April 2014, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced a two-year, $21 million rehabilitation of the bridge.

The right lanes of the bridge is being treated with a resin as a test to see if the material will help reduce water infiltration and corrosion.

Minor repairs and alterations will also improve pedestrian and bicycle safety on the ramp to the eastbound Whitehurst Freeway.

These include removing bollards that narrow the sidewalk, and installing cameras that detect pedestrians and bicycles and will trigger flashing lights on the ramp to warn motorists about their presence.