While it is admirable to hear the Governor’s concerns about traffic at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, an announcement focusing on a shiny new bridge lacks any real discussion about cost, impact on communities, and the understanding that a sprawling flood of people, traffic, and pavement can detract from rural Maryland.
There is a large and growing body of evidence and near consensus that our conventional approach of solving traffic congestion by increasing roadway capacity is ineffective over the long term. The most immediate example that comes to my mind is Route 1 in Delaware – an expensive, new north south highway in Delaware that was over capacity starting with the day it opened. Concurrent with the highway construction was massive amounts of sprawl housing in southern New Castle County, which immediately overwhelmed the new infrastructure.
We are long overdue for a more modern approach to transportation planning – one that emphasizes mass transit and other forward thinking measures that make the most out of the infrastructure we have, and emphasizes land use decisions that decrease auto dependence and increase transportation choices. What about expanded bus services with a stronger backbone service from Baltimore and Washington to Ocean City, stopping in key population centers and complementary service from rural areas to the backbone stops? Or public-private partnerships such as a high-speed ferry option? And should an eventual new Bridge be built, what about revisiting passenger rail (which used to exist on the Shore)?
With declining gas tax revenues, changing living preferences for millennials, and a warming planet caused in part by our poor transportation habits, the time is now for fresh thinking.
Fresh thinking on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge situation could also include ideas such as setting up telecommuting centers in our Eastern Shore small towns, and work policies such that State and Federal employees could work from the Shore on peak traffic days or even more often, in turn saving fuel, pollution, and traffic while also stimulating the vibrancy of our towns. Implementing new tolling technologies and policies which do away with the toll booths, increasing rates during peak use periods and decreasing rates for high occupancy vehicles is yet another direction that could be explored for considerably less money.
These ideas and many others can be done now and for very little cost relative to a new Bay Bridge.
Spending $5 million to study the environmental impacts of a new Bay Bridge feels like fiddling while Rome burns. Let’s talk about the things we can do today to relieve congestion immediately, then think about what might be needed to manage cross Bay travel demand over the long term, and only thereafter consider whether a new bridge is worth its considerable financial and environmental cost.
Rob Etgen
Executive Director
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is a regional nonprofit organization that has worked to advance strategic land conservation and sound land use planning on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
jenifer endicott emley says
I agree with you completely, Rob.
We’ve got to do a whole lot better.
Great letter!
Mary Wood says
There used to be train service from Love Point ferry terminal to Ocean City.
I’m not sure but I think there were tracks along Route 50.
Hugh Silcox says
One of Governor Hogan’s very first acts upon being sworn in was to cancel plans for Baltimore’s Red Line, a sorely needed east-west expansion of the city’s existing subway service. His second was to “roll back” tolls on the State’s bridges and highways. Don’t look to this Governor for transportation initiatives that don’t presume and protect the dominance of the automobile.
Katie Clendaniel says
Imagine a rail system from DC, Annapolis all the way to OC. What a pleasant way to travel and a great commuter option that would contribute to the vitality of our eastern shore communities. Higher capacity roads lead to more congestion, more sprawl.
Joe Lill says
How about a rail system through a tunnel along a more southern route,,,,,,,maybe from Calvert County on the western side and Cambridge on the eastern side? It could siphon off riders from both the Baltimore and Washington light rail systems.
Keith Thompson says
The biggest issue I see with a rail line to Ocean City is the nature of that traffic to and from Ocean City. A rail line would be perfect for a day or overnight destination, but Ocean City is largely where you go for an extended amount of time such as a long weekend or to spend a weekly vacation. To borrow from George Carlin, when you’re going to Ocean City you’re taking your stuff with you. Once you have a couple of suitcases, beach gear, golf clubs, etc.; your vehicle is more than transportation and becomes an traveling storage unit. You’re not going to be able to fit all your stuff onto to a commuter train unless you reduce the passenger capacity of the train which negates the need.
Oddly enough, the idea of a rail line would be a great idea for a day trip or overnight destination like Chestertown except there is not enough of a critical mass of demand to make that sort of rail line feasible.
Joe Lill says
Keith,
We need to think outside the box on this. People go on vacation via airplane travel with the premise of one carry on and the rest are check-in everyday. The same can be done for train travel.
Building another bridge at the current location is meaningless unless the road infrastructure on both sides of the bay is upgraded on a huge scale. The cost of eminent domain land purchases, bridge construction, and road construction should make any alternate suggestion worthy of consideration. Europeans go on vacation via rail all the time and it works. Maybe a lesson can be learned by looking at their ideas.
As an Amazon employee I see innovation created by great thinkers on a daily basis.
Gren Whitman says
As so often the case, our present governor is behaving as political expedience dictates.
Another Bay Bridge? To speed to the Delaware/Ocean City beaches from Baltimore/Washington on summer weekends?
Has anyone in Maryland’s Republican administration (including Peter Franchot, of course) ever read “The Power Broker”? The lesson from this book about Greater New York proves that more roads and more bridges and more tunnels and etc. inevitably result in more and bigger traffic and more and bigger traffic jams!
Anyway, as Hogan well knows, a third span would only be built — if it ever is — long after his term as governor.
His present posturing is fodder only for his constituency to drool over prior to the next state election.