In 2001, planning began for a replacement of the US 50 bridge over Route 27, which had been built in 1944 by the War Department. Construction of a replacement bridge began in October 2005 and ended in August 2007. The project cost $6.5 million (equivalent to $ in ). At 3:40 a.m. on December 22, 2004, a gasoline tank truck overturned and exploded on Washington Boulevard at the Mixing Bowl, near the Pentagon. The accident killed the driver, and sparked initial concerns that this explosion was another terrorist attack. The driver was headed to a nearby gas station, near the Pentagon.