Wilson Bridge reopens after shutdown for suspicious package

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) -- The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge has reopened after a suspicious package on the pedestrian walkway led to a shutdown of the inner loop of the Capital Beltway.

State Highway officials tweeted about 4 p.m. Friday that the bridge had reopened.

The Prince George's County Fire department's bomb squad received a call about the package on the span shortly before noon. Authorities closed the inner loop at the exit for Interstate 295.

Fire department spokesman Mark Brady said after X-rays and a hand search of the package, and making contact with a company listed on a shipping label on the box, the package was deemed harmless.

The bridge crosses the Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia, and Oxon Hill, Maryland. Hundreds of thousands of cars travel the frequently congested Capital Beltway daily.