True confession: until my recent retirement I was one of those drivers who followed my GPS and used the backroads of Kent Island to jockey around traffic at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. My justification was that I was a local (Queenstown), but the reality was that my timing was always tight for meetings or picking up my daughter from daycare. Now that I am retired, I force myself to obey the signage and just sit in traffic. I use the time to call friends or look for birds.
Summer 2023 has been brutal for Bay Bridge backups. I have heard it described as “Thursdays are the new Fridays,” “west bound is as bad as eastbound,” and “forget about crossing if there is rain or wind or an accident.” The bridge traffic misery index for Eastern Shore folks is definitely way up.
Should we support building a new Chesapeake Bay bridge – presumably at the current bridge location? I think that reasonable minds can be for and against. Personally, I am against a new Bay Bridge. My reasons start with pollution of the Chesapeake Bay and sprawl on the Eastern Shore. But I also see a new bridge as an overly expensive and temporary solution for a complex regional problem demanding future learning and innovative solutions.
In the short term, we need choices and incentives which encourage efficient use of the current bridges. As individuals, we should avoid backups whenever possible by using phone apps like Google maps and Waze. During backups grab a coffee at Yo Java Bowl in Chester and get some work done. Governments should be using accepted tools like congestion tolling (higher tolls during high demand), high occupancy vehicle incentives and telework policies. Governments should also explore innovations already in use elsewhere including real time management of contra flow lanes and access limits for the entire congestion corridor.
Over the long term, we must take a much harder look at mass transit alternatives, and look beyond our borders for partners and solutions. A decade ago, I understood that high speed rail up and over the Bay on existing tracks in Delaware (with upgrades) could get passengers to the beaches from Baltimore in under an hour. There are other transit solutions similar to rail emerging around the world. These future leaning solutions are much more expandable as demand rises, are solid wins for climate change, and are better suited for our children who are increasingly urban and proudly car free.
Please don’t judge me for peacefully sitting in Bay Bridge traffic. I know this is a luxury of retirement, and one that few can afford. But if you are not fighting a time crunch, take a deep breath and look around at our beautiful Bay, and think about what this scene might look like through the eyes of our grandchildren.
NOTE: The Md. Transportation Authority is hosting several open houses for public comment on the new Chesapeake Crossing. Please let your voices be heard. See: www.baycrossingstudy.com.
Rob Etgen retired in 2021 after a 40 year career in conservation – the last 31 years as President of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. In retirement Rob is enjoying family and working on global and local sustainability issues with Council Fire consulting out of Annapolis.
Dirk Dekker says
Elevated Monorail requires very little land, can use a lot of the median strips on Rt 50. Farming can carry on underneath it in rural areas. A new bridge for monorail would cost way less than a multi lane road bridge, require less purchase of existing houses/businesses. A new bridge will just move congestion down the road to merge into current 3 or 2 lanes. Only way to reduce congestion is to reduce number of vehicles. Ban non resident private vehicles in Ocean City, public transport is already available and can be extended to other Beach destinations.
Kathleen Vito says
The bridges from NJ into Philadelphia used to charge less for non peak times but that went away years ago. I can’t figure out why a new bridge in the same location is a good idea. The span going south of Annapolis to Taylor’s Island was shot down. But that would channel traffic to OC and VA Beach out the traffic at the current.bridge to some degree leaving it more for the traffic to the DE beaches. Not to mention that aCambr8dge by pass could go before Rt 16 reaches Curch Creek, solving that bottle neck in Cambridge on Thursdays thru Mondays now
Carol Voyles says
I especially appreciate such references to thoughtful planning.
Todd Wittman says
I’ve worked on Kent Island for 20+ years and live in QA county for 3 (Talbot prior). My job requires that I travel across the bridge several times a week, including weekends. The traffic this year has been the worst and I’m not overstating it. Commuter rail is not the answer. The ridership vs cost would be ridiculous. You are not going to get folks to stop going to the beaches or the Eastern Shore in general. The only thing that is going to happen is the traffic is going to get worse. Get your heads out of the sand and come to the realization that there is a need for a new Bay Bridge crossing somewhere …. or we can just stay home and watch the birds.
William Craig says
We’ve known for decades that new roads and bridges only lead to the need for more roads and bridges. Alternative means of transportation – such as trains,ferries, buses – are needed.
Maurice Kirwan says
I have studied in detail the Bay Bridge “problem” going back to the O’Malley administration. While the Hogan administration made significant progress in restructuring the physical aspects of the problem (eliminate toll Plazas, gates versus barrels lane changers, modest rate restructuring) no meaningful proposals have been proposed to change human behavior relative to public’s wallet. Reference Virginia dynamic toll system on RT66 (use the high speed lanes pay more based on the traffic). The objective was to increase use of alternative methods for travel to DC (it worked!).
Maryland needs to create alternatives that may allow for possible improvements to traffic flow. A couple of facts:
1) It is cheaper for trucks traversing Maryland to use Rt 50/301 route over the Rt 95 route either north or south through Maryland
2) Growth on the Eastern Shore counties (last 4 US census) is a minor factor in congestion
3) While some initial work was done at UM on altering traffic flow patterns there has been no in depth study of traffic control from OC to the Bay Bridge (AI integration in traffic control).
4) The current toll system is too static and does not recognize time, origination point, return time.
Until the state is willing to explore alternative strategies a third bridge is not the answer for the next 10 years.
JT Fox says
Doesn’t matter how many bridges you build. There are only 3 lanes approaching and exiting the bridges. And when going east bound at the US 301/50 split there are only 2 lanes.