The Bay Bridge Mess

Dear Capital Newspaper, 

Thank you for your article on the Bay Bridge traffic mess. The Eastern Shore Commissioners have demanded priority use of the third lane of the westbound span for potential emergency trips to the AA Medical Center on all weekend days- (Fridays and Saturdays)- during the summer months. The MD Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) has capitulated to this demand even the need can be accommodated by treatment at the Queenstown UM Shore Medical Center that handles EMS cases. MDOT has ignored the Broadneck and guaranteed the Broadneck Peninsula, Annapolis, Parole and all N/W corridors are impassable on summer weekends.

The Bay Bridge Authority’s implementation of the contraflow lane is pitifully inadequate and is emblematic of the poor longterm planning this unique state asset has received over decades of both Republican and Democratic leadership. The current study proposes to constructing a third Bay Bridge span on this Peninsula will result in a bigger mess on the Broadneck and Kent Island. This is poorly conceived, poorly funded, and will result in an even bigger problem in the future. A third bridge span at another location is needed.

If the desire is to keep the Eastern Shore rural by limiting traffic, then either public transport with dedicated lanes is required, or the State should plainly admit that the current plans and practices mean we must pay the price in our time and sanity from the congestion that will only become more common, and on weekdays as well.

One final suggestion, if Kent Island needs dedicated access to the AA Medical Center in Parole, then expand the emergency helicopter air lifts for your weekend needs. Don’t make tens of thousands of Maryland’s citizens suffer for a potential event that is rarely needed. Where are plans to implement a better contraflow process? If Gov. Hogan can find money to repave the westbound span in less than a year, maybe it is time to do the same to upgrade traffic management.

Britt Griswold
Broadneck Resident