Out and About (Sort of): New Bay Bridge: Help Ocean City, Hurt Shore Residents by Howard Freedlander

Last week, I wrote about summer season traffic on Route 50 and its stultifying impact on Shore residents forced to give up weekend travel both locally and westward across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I quoted a letter to the editor of The Baltimore Sun by a resident of Chester on Kent Island characterizing the onslaught of traffic not only during the summer but also year-round, as “a mandated sentence of home-arrest for Kent Islanders.”

A Wye Mills resident, in response to my column, said she was a “weekend prisoner” of her home, finding it “impossible to come into Easton with Friday beach traffic, and if going to town on any given Sunday, I must finish up before noon when the return beach traffic “She bemoaned waiting at the stoplight at Route 213 for at least eight minutes “to accommodate the beach goers and ignoring the residents.”

Another Spy writer, a lifelong Queenstown resident, also cited the difficulty of crossing Route 50 Friday through Sunday, not only during the summer, but also wrote, “Now Thursday has been added to the list and Monday mornings are often an adventure getting to work in Annapolis.”

Now added to the mix and mess of navigating the critical spine of the Eastern Shore is last week’s announcement by Gov. Larry Hogan that the state will spend $5 million on a multi-year study that is the first step in a lengthy process to seek federal funding for a third Bay Bridge estimated to cost $7 billion.

Up to recently, I would have applauded the governor’s announcement. For a long time, I’ve always thought that a third span had to happen. The traffic load on the two existing spans and annoyingly long back-ups, primarily in the summer, demanded a solution. It couldn’t and shouldn’t be delayed.

Now, I think differently. Concerns expressed by Shore residents must receive a hearing.

If I were Gov. Hogan, I would have made the same decision to go forward with money for a study. For years, there’s been bountiful talk about a third span. During Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s term, 2004-2008, a group studied possible locations for a third Bay Bridge. But, the group neither recommended a specific location, nor did it conclude that there should be another span. The political environment was different, marked by a lack of public will to undertake a public works project as hugely expensive and fraught with potential opposition as this one.

Aside from fulfilling a need for a dramatic fix to accommodate a projected daily increase of 22,000 cars by 2040, a third Bay Bridge would have an economic rationale: the delivery of happy and fun-seeking vacationers to Ocean City, Maryland’s mecca of tourism. According to the 2016 Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce legislative priorities, visitor expenditures in this popular resort exceeded $1.4 billion, supported 8,580 jobs and devoted more than $5 million per year in room tax revenue to “destination marketing.” And, according to the chamber’s legislative priorities, tourism growth in Worcester County and Ocean City was 3.8 percent.

Thus, it would be foolhardy to ignore the significance of Ocean City’s economic might when analyzing the political push for another span.

Because I think that Eastern Shore residents are getting short shrift in the still preliminary consideration of Bay Bridge expansion, as if we had chosen to live near a major airport and simply have to suffer the consequences—in this case a highway important to both tourists and residents—I suggest that state planners examine another alternative.

And that is rapid transit from the eastern terminus of the existing Bay Bridge to Ocean City. I bet you didn’t expect that.
This alternative would spawn many critics and skeptics. What sort of train would carry cars, people and sand toys? Does this form of transit exist? If so, at what cost? And, by the way, it does nothing to relieve the congestion on the Bay Bridge.

This is what it does do, possibly: it gives back Route 50 to residents on summer weekends. It therefore restores a quality of life that is slipping away, as tourists hurriedly travel to the beach, oblivious to those of us who must withstand single-minded motorists. It drastically reduces the carbon footprint on the Eastern Shore in the spirit of responding positively to global warming. If Ocean City falls victim to climate change and consequent sea level rise, a transit system would still serve Shore residents.

Like a plaintive child pleading with parents for a favorable decision on any number of matters, I simply ask state planners to consider another alternative to construction of a third Bay Bridge. It seems unfair that Shore residents, though small in number when compared with the thousands of beach-loving visitors from the Western Shore, should relinquish control of their lives from the end of May to the end of August.

As noted, the increasing traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and consequent onslaught that becomes standard fare on Route 50 scream for a solution. I suspect the Bay Bridge conundrum will draw foremost attention.

Eastern Shore voices need to be heard. I hope that happens.

Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland.  Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He  also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer.  In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.