STEVENSVILLE, Md. — Plans to replace the Chesapeake Bay Bridge cleared a major hurdle this week, and people who live near the crossing and use it daily are weighing in.
Cruz Ynostrosta drives across the bridge from Deale to get to work every day.
“We want a faster commute,” Ynostrosta. “You know, for everybody. I mean, people are afraid to drive over the bridge because it’s so narrow right now. So they’re going to expand it. And you know it’s going to be better for everybody I believe.”
Maryland transportation officials announced Thursday that the project received final federal environmental approval.
Currently, the Bay Bridge has just two lanes in each direction and no full shoulders. (Credit: MDOT)
Currently, the bridge has just two lanes in each direction and no full shoulders.
The approved plan calls for two new bridge spans with four lanes each and full shoulders. The existing spans will be removed.
John Ruth lives on Kent Island. He said he is cautiously optimistic about plans for a new Bay Bridge.
“I got friends of mine that don't bother even leaving the house on weekends,” Ruth said. “They go shopping on Fridays, and then they're home all weekend long because they don't they don't want to deal with the traffic…If it helps out with traffic, with being four lanes instead of the swing lane, the suicide lane or whatever, I think that would help out a lot because the red x, I mean, people just blow right past them. They drive in the shoulders. They use our local roads to get everywhere they’re going to go.”
The project includes widening parts of Routes 50 and 301 to eight lanes to accommodate connections to the new spans.
The plan also proposes a one-time investment of up to $40 million for transit improvements, along with a commitment to land preservation on the Eastern Shore.
Ruth said he is still worried about the impact construction may have on the environment.
“I'd like to see what it's going to do to the environmental impact, as far as building another bridge, as far as what it's going to do during construction…My biggest fear is maybe the environmental impact,” Ruth said. “I care about the Bay. A lot of my friends, they're fishermen, they’re crabermen, and they, you know, they depend on it.”
A bike and pedestrian path is also being considered.
The Maryland Transportation Authority says design work on the new bridges will begin in 2028, with construction starting as soon as 2032. Work would happen in stages.
