Time to Get Behind Senate Bill 56

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is the Achilles’ heel of the State of Maryland. Congestion and an aging, inadequate infrastructure is its current state. Citizens of Anne Arundel County are endangered by that congestion and their lives threatened by inaccessibility to medical services due to jammed roadways. For my 19 years as a Maryland resident “The Bridge” has been a constant topic of concern and an issue neglected by our State’s leadership, a case of the government “kicking the can down the road”. 

Recently the CAPITAL urged seeking solutions for crossing the Chesapeake Bay. Now forward thinking members of our State Senate are beginning the process of evaluating options and identifying costs. Their legislation for that process is currently before the General Assembly as Senate Bill 56. It is time for Maryland’s Governor, Lawrence Hogan, and our U.S. Senators Mikulski and Cardin to support the search for solutions for a replacement or additional bridge across the Bay. The weight of their interest at the State and Federal level will break the inertia that is preventing a long term solution from implementation. And, for the Governor, there is potential personal satisfaction to strongly lead the way to a Chesapeake Bay solution. Major 20th century capital improvements, Ritchie Highway, the Nice Bridge, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (Governor William Preston Lane Bridge), were all named for the Governors who provided the leadership and impetus to get those assets developed following decades of indecision.

 It is time for all of our leadership to endorse the proposals of Senate Bill 56 and begin the process to modernize the Chesapeake Bay crossing system.

Phil Ferrara
Arnold, MD