CHESAPEAKE BAY, Md, – Plans to replace the Chesapeake Bay Bridge are raising concerns among farmers and conservation groups on Maryland's Eastern Shore, who say the project could accelerate development on land that should be preserved for future farming.
The Maryland Transportation Authority Board voted in December to move forward with a plan to build two new four-lane spans across the bay and remove the existing bridges. The project also includes widening Route 50 and 301 to eight lanes — four in each direction — and could add a shared-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians. The new spans would include full shoulders and increased clearance for larger ships to pass underneath.
The project remains years away. Final design is expected to begin in 2028, with construction targeted for 2032.
But the scope of the plan has prompted the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy to organize local governments and conservation groups around a new idea: a dedicated land preservation fund tied to the bridge project. Queen Anne's, Caroline and Talbot counties have signed onto a letter backing the concept.
A push tied to development pressure
An MTA report on the Bay Crossing project found that more than 111,000 acres across the Eastern Shore are vulnerable to growth and development pressure, including farms, forests and waterways in Caroline, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties. Those three counties together account for about 22% of Maryland's agricultural sales, according to the report.
Jay Falstad, executive director of the Queen Anne's Conservation Association, said the fund's goal is straightforward.
"The goal is to try and protect farmland for the future," Falstad said. "Queen Anne's County is an agricultural gem, and you would not want to see that disrupted with a sea of subdivision development that would follow in the wake of a new Bay bridge."
If money is allocated, Falstad said, most of it would likely go to Queen Anne's and Caroline counties, which he says are the largest grain-producing counties in the state.
“Right now it's a request of the state basically saying that if you're going to spend a few billion dollars on a new Bay bridge, then you ought to be prepared to allocate a few hundred million dollars for land preservation,” Falstad said.
Falstad said Queen Anne's County is the largest grain producing county in the state of Maryland.
Falstad also said agriculture is Queen Anne's County's top economic sector, and the county has preserved nearly 40% of its farmland to date.
He said he remains opposed to the bridge project itself, arguing the state has not adequately justified the need for a new span given the current bridge's remaining lifespan.
A tool to protect the state's own investment
Carol Bean, land use and policy manager for the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, said the fund is still a concept, with no formal agreement in place. She said conversations are ongoing with the Maryland Department of Transportation and other state agencies, and the group is trying to align its timeline with a formal record of decision on the bridge project, which she said could come as early as this fall or early winter.
Bean said preserving land near transportation corridors isn't just about protecting farmland — it's also about protecting the bridge project's own goals.
"The state has made the decision. They've picked a route. They're moving ahead with it," Bean said. "So in our perspective, it's how do you do that in the most responsible way that respects the kind of tradition and economy of the Eastern Shore. And land preservation is a really key way that you can do that. It's a way you can protect the investment in the bridge as well."
Bean said unchecked development along the corridor could undercut the bridge's purpose of easing traffic.
"If you don't protect that corridor, you end up with more development, which means more access points," she said. "You can use land preservation as a strategic tool to protect that investment, but also really to fundamentally support these key industries of the Eastern Shore, like agriculture."
Caroline County watching growth closely
Caroline County Board of Commissioners President Travis Breeding said the county, which has not historically seen heavy development, wants to get ahead of pressure from its faster-growing neighbors.
"The rural heritage of Caroline County is very important to us, and we want to preserve that," Breeding said. "The additional expansion of the Bay bridge could increase development here in Caroline County, and we really want to slow that down."
Breeding said the fund remains only a concept at this stage — an ask directed at the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Transportation Authority to establish a funding stream to help preserve agricultural land in the Mid-Shore region.
Farmers say their way of life is at stake
Stephen Kraszewski, a farmer in Queen Anne's County whose family runs Mason Farms Produce on a fifth-generation farm, said farming represents an investment in the Eastern Shore's rural way of life. He said Queen Anne's County has more corn and soybean farmland than any other county in Maryland.
"It feels like there's a target on our back," Kraszewski said, noting the bridge route runs through Kent Island and directly through the county on the way to beach destinations including Ocean City, Rehoboth and Lewes. "Those farmers, they want to see their way of life preserved — just not taken over. Not bulldozed. Not removed."
Kraszewski said losing farmland threatens more than individual farms.
"If losing farmland means you lose a farmer, you lose some of the heritage that's already here," he said. "We are a community. We try to work with each other. We talk to each other. We solve problems together. And one less farmer is a real blow to our community."
Kraszewski said he isn't opposed to growth outright, but wants farmers to have a say in how it unfolds.
"We want structured expansion, with everybody's input — not just simple meetings that record people saying what they want, and then they're tossed aside," he said. "We want a voice, and we want to have our input in how it all works out….We want to make sure people have healthy food to eat and local food. That's probably the most important thing that you can have for anybody who enjoys those three meals a day is local, healthy produce. And yeah, you have to have land to grow that.”
