FOLSOM, Calif. -- The recent terrorist attacks on the East Coast have raised concerns again about the vulnerability of Folsom Dam Road.

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Congressional Approval Needed

Designed over 50 years ago as a utility road, Folsom Dam Road is now a major commuting artery used by 16,000 motorists a day.

The road was shut down by the Bureau of Reclamation immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania but has been reopened to motorists from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Plans to build a new two- to four-lane bridge that spans the dam -- originally raised following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing -- have been discussed for years but are now being looked at with greater scrutiny.

"One of the best ways to ensure that security is to get the four million cars that cross that dam every year across the river somewhere else," Jeffrey McCracken of the Bureau of Reclamation said.

McCracken said plans for a new bridge have been supported by local officials, but that moving forward with construction largely depends on the approval of Congress.

The proposed bridge would start at the dam overlook on the south side and connect at Auburn-Folsom Road, close to where the road now starts on the west side of the dam, McCracken said.

The cost of the project would be between $40 million and $60 million, officials said.

Traffic on Folsom Dam Road, built in the 1950s, has skyrocketed in the last 10 years as growth has swelled in the foothills.