While it is admirable to hear the Governor’s concerns about traffic at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, an announcement focusing on a shiny new bridge lacks any real discussion about cost, impact on communities, and the understanding that a sprawling flood of people, traffic, and pavement can detract from rural Maryland.
There is a large and growing body of evidence and near consensus that our conventional approach of solving traffic congestion by increasing roadway capacity is ineffective over the long term. The most immediate example that comes to my mind is Route 1 in Delaware – an expensive, new north south highway in Delaware that was over capacity starting with the day it opened. Concurrent with the highway construction was massive amounts of sprawl housing in southern New Castle County, which immediately overwhelmed the new infrastructure.
We are long overdue for a more modern approach to transportation planning – one that emphasizes mass transit and other forward thinking measures that make the most out of the infrastructure we have, and emphasizes land use decisions that decrease auto dependence and increase transportation choices. What about expanded bus services with a stronger backbone service from Baltimore and Washington to Ocean City, stopping in key population centers and complementary service from rural areas to the backbone stops? Or public-private partnerships such as a high-speed ferry option? And should an eventual new Bridge be built, what about revisiting passenger rail (which used to exist on the Shore)?
With declining gas tax revenues, changing living preferences for millennials, and a warming planet caused in part by our poor transportation habits, the time is now for fresh thinking.
Fresh thinking on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge situation could also include ideas such as setting up telecommuting centers in our Eastern Shore small towns, and work policies such that State and Federal employees could work from the Shore on peak traffic days or even more often, in turn saving fuel, pollution, and traffic while also stimulating the vibrancy of our towns. Implementing new tolling technologies and policies which do away with the toll booths, increasing rates during peak use periods and decreasing rates for high occupancy vehicles is yet another direction that could be explored for considerably less money.
These ideas and many others can be done now and for very little cost relative to a new Bay Bridge.
Spending $5 million to study the environmental impacts of a new Bay Bridge feels like fiddling while Rome burns. Let’s talk about the things we can do today to relieve congestion immediately, then think about what might be needed to manage cross Bay travel demand over the long term, and only thereafter consider whether a new bridge is worth its considerable financial and environmental cost.
Rob Etgen
Executive Director
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is a regional nonprofit organization that has worked to advance strategic land conservation and sound land use planning on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Dirk Dekker says
Bob Etgen makes sense. I wrote a letter to the Star Democrat a few years ago on this subject. My thoughts were that increasing bridge capacity would only create bottle necks and back up where ever the new roads joined the existing. A monorail system from OC -Salisbury- 404/Rt 50 junction -Stevensville/Grasonville area and then a single monorail bridge to Annapolis. This would have minimal impact on land use, could still be farmed under, minimal impact on buying thousands of acres costs of eminent domain. Restrict traffic in Ocean City to residents only and increase bus use. Would need significant parking areas at those stops, but a lot less than new bridge approaches 6 lanes or more and probably 6 lane highways all across the shore which would probably be overwhelmed in just a few years.
Jay Corvan says
Fresh thinking is definitely required here but in not sure that thoughts generated by
This current administration have ever been about mass transportation. It seems that
The emphasis is still on cars and strip development with nauseating Nationsl franchises popping
Up everywhere turning the eastern shore into ” generica”. . If there were real economists
doing a really comprehensive impact study on the towns along the eastern shore , it would
Find that all these towns along route fifty on the eastern shore are negatively impacted by
Additional traffic. Tie ups are not caused by the bridge alone.
This republicans administration is bereft of real economic counsel. Every
Time that The route fifty corridor expands it creates more traffic problems With More
Nationsl franchises disrupting the rural landscape and acting like the ” Death Star”
To the local economies. Sending community base Capital out the area, putting local
Small community based Businesses out of business. Local
Chain stores do nothing but offer low paying jobs and suburban sprawl
And huge utility demands on local infrastructure. It’s all understood
And thoroughly and completely ignored by Maryland’s state highway
administration that is sim invested in the sprawl it has literally no
Idea of how else to plan.
Yet we can harken back To the last century where train based intermodal transportation did a terrific job of getting folks
To the beach. It worked in tandem with a ferry system that brought people to eastern shore hotel destinations
Like wades point inn near claighbourne md as a connection to train service to ocean city.
We could learn from the past. Wherever are going isn’t that far from where we’ve been.
The fifties beach blanket bingo escape to ocean city is really a dead notion. Traffic waits in
Huge long lines , weekly accidents cause huge arterial highway backups, and ugly
Suburban Place making have destroyed the rural Landscape. The beach escape needs
A complete makeover.
Also please Bear in mind that Younger generation x adults in urban centers aren’t very interested in owning cars so doing
A diligent economic impact study would have to include this transformational aspect. Let’s face the real challenge of
Getting people out their cars and into public transportation. Former planning Secretary rich hall
Was into this deeply and should be consulted to help
The state come up with a sensible and sustainable intermodal
Connection to the beach
New York City transport via Long Island rr via fire island
Has had it right for one hundred years. You’d think that Maryland
Could scrape a few grey cells together or at least
Copy other cities who have been successful. I’d look at the North
Carolina ferry system , Washington state ferry system , Long Island
Train connections via New York city and grand central station.
There has got to be a public benefit here and what’s
Good for business , that which Seems to drive the Hogan
Administration policy is not necessarily all
About cars. And more traffic and congestion actually hurts eastern shore
Townscape.
Barbara Esmonde says
I agree, wholeheartedly, with Mr. Etgen, and his views on more public transportation.
I truly believe, as a Chestertown resident and a Betterton business owner, having accessibility to jobs and daily life is needed.
Kent County is a rural area and in order to get many day to day services taken care of, including healthcare, MVA, shopping, dining, etc.., you have to drive. That is not possible for many of our residents, but a necessity in order to live. A bus or a light rail to Middletown, Easron, Elkton, Galena, Kent Island, would provide job opportunities for many and a larger work force for smaller communities. I, for one, know how difficult it is to staff my business, because of transportation issues.
I urge the Govenor and others to consider other options, as well.