The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), jointly with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), and in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS) and other agencies, prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a Section 4(f) Evaluation in accordance with Section 4(f) of the United States Department of Transportation Act of 1966, and a Programmatic Agreement (PA) in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) for the Long Bridge Project. The Final EIS identifies the Preferred Alternative and summarizes public outreach and agency coordination conducted since the Draft EIS was released. The Final EIS addresses comments on the Draft EIS and incorporates errata sheets to the Draft EIS, consistent with 23 USC 139(n).

FRA and NPS jointly issued a single document that combines the Record of Decision (ROD) and the Final EIS (including the Final Section 4(f) Evaluation and PA). The Combined Final EIS/ROD for the Long Bridge Project was published on August 12, 2020.

The ROD documents that FRA and NPS selected Action Alternative A for the Project based on analysis presented in the Draft EIS and input from the public, stakeholders, and agencies. Action Alternative A most effectively achieves the Purpose and Need of the Project. It includes expanding the 1.8-mile Long Bridge Corridor from two to four tracks crossing the Potomac River from RO Interlocking near Long Bridge Park in Arlington, Virginia, to L’Enfant (LE) Interlocking near 10th Street SW in Washington, DC. With this alignment, a new two-track bridge would be constructed upstream of the existing Long Bridge, and the existing bridge would be retained to create a four-track crossing. The ROD also contains commitments to provide mitigation for the Long Bridge Project. Mitigation for the Project includes construction of a new bike-pedestrian shared-use path that would span George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Potomac River.