Chesapeake Bay Bridge: Encyclopedia - Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge and officially as the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge, is a major bridge in Maryland operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) that crosses the Chesapeake Bay as part of US 50/US 301. Running from Sandy Point near Annapolis in Anne Arundel County to Kent Island in Queen Anne's County, the bridge's dual spans connect Maryland's rural Eastern Shore and the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The bridge is also part of an alternate route for I-95 between northern Delaware and the Washington, D.C. area. There is a one-way (eastbound) toll, which is $2.50 for passenger vehicles.

With lengths of 4.33 and 4.35 miles, the bridges are among the world's longest and most-scenic over-water structures. The original span, built in 1952, has two lanes that normally carry eastbound traffic. A parallel span, opened in 1973 just to the north of the original span, has three lanes that normally carry westbound traffic. A lane control system, consisting of overhead lane-use signals on the approaches and both spans, is used during peak travel times and incidents to close lanes or reverse traffic flow. On the outset of weekends during the summer, one lane on the north span is typically reversed to accommodate the heavy volume of eastbound beach traffic. For one day in May, the south span is closed—and the north span switched to two-way traffic—for the Bay Bridge Walk, which has been held since 1975; however, starting in 2005, the walk is no longer held annually [1].

Chesapeake Bay Bridge - History

As early as the 1880s studies explored the possibility of building a bridge across the Chesapeake Bay and the first real proposal to build such a bridge was in 1907. The 1907 proposal, along with other later proposals called for a crossing between Baltimore and Tolchester Beach. A bridge was almost built in this location in 1927 and was to be privately financed by local businessmen, however, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 brought an end to those plans. Earlier, in 1919 the first regularly scheduled ferry service across the bay began. The ferry ran between Annapolis and Claiborne, a community near St. Michaels, with a stop at Romancoke on southern Kent Island. The first proposal for a bridge in the current location came in 1938 and was approved, however, construction was delayed by World War II. In 1947, with the war over, Maryland Governor William Preston Lane Jr. helped push for construction of the bridge to proceed. The groundbreaking for the bridge was in 1949, it was completed in 1952, and was dedicated to Governor Lane on November 9, 1967. Also in 1967, due to increasing traffic volumes, the Maryland General Assembly authorized 3 possible new crossings, one near Baltimore, one in Southern Maryland, and an additional span to be added to the existing bridge, the third option was chosen. Construction of the new span began in 1969 and it was completed and dedicated to William Preston Lane Jr. on June 28, 1973. In 2003, the bridge was temporarily and completely closed for the first time in its history, during Hurricane Isabel out of the fear that wind speeds would exceed those that could be withstood by the bridge. Other bridges in Maryland, even smaller bridges such as the nearby Kent Narrows Bridge were also closed during the storm.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Future Crossing

Over the past years, traffic congestion has become an increasing problem for the bridge. During the MdTA's 2004 fiscal year (July 1–June 30), it was crossed by approximately 25.8 million vehicles. Plans by Maryland to construct a third crossing of the Chesapeake Bay are in the preliminary stages, with a southerly crossing connecting St. Mary's and Somerset Counties considered the most sensible option. A specially-appointed task force has been meeting during the summer of 2005 to discuss logistics, and the meetings will continue into the fall. Members of the task force include Maryland Secretary of Transportation Robert L. Flanagan who chairs the task force, and Maryland State Senator Edward Pipkin.

Scenarios for the new bridge include a northern crossing between Baltimore and Kent Counties, adding a third span to the existing bridge, and the southern crossing mentioned above. The task force has found that all of the different scenarios have their pros and cons, as is to be expected, however, the biggest problem concerning each span would be upgrading the roads approaching them.

See also

• List of bridges by length

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Chesapeake Bay Bridge", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki