At the conference, we learned that traffic is so bad on local roads between Kent Island and Grasonville that first responders often had difficulty and delays reaching emergency calls and residents have trouble simply leaving their homes. Three years ago, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy hosted a planning conference with industry leaders and stakeholders to discuss short- and long-term solutions to congestion created by traffic on the existing Bay Bridge.
#CURRENT CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE TRAFFIC DRIVERS#
Yet studies and history have proven it surely will not work, and will only lead to more drivers and more traffic at the cost of tens of billions of dollars, the environmental impact, and the threat of more development on Eastern Shore land that typically follows these types of infrastructure projects. As a result, nearly 70 years after the first bridge was built, traffic has become so bad that we are once again considering another expansion with hopes that this time it will work to alleviate traffic congestion. As we build more and more capacity for drivers and private vehicles, we in turn get more drivers and private vehicles. This highway expansion soon proved to be inadequate to accommodate both peak commuter traffic and the deluge of beach-goers.
Twenty-One years later, the second span was built in 1972 eight years later, it led to the widening of Route 50 between Annapolis and the bridge. The first span was built in July 1952 with just two lanes, which soon became inadequate. This is an all too common scenario and we have seen this before with the current two bridge spans. Often, road expansion is a means to alleviate traffic congestion the traffic relief is often short-lived because more people start to use the infrastructure, thus creating more traffic. In essence, it means if you build more roads, more drivers will use them. There is an effect that comes with road expansion that is known as induced traffic demand. With the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the potential new Bay Bridge crossing, now is a critical time to understand the history of these types of highway expansion project and why they rarely, if ever, work.
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