The Baltimore Sun reports that early Tuesday, the Maryland Transportation Authority executed an unscheduled inspection of the westbound lanes of the Preston Lane Jr. Bay Bridge. The inspection caused a closure, then a re-opening of the westbound span of the bridge. Workers had reported an unusual vertical movement after midnight. It was determined that the tarps that have been recently hung around sections of the bridge may have caught wind and acted as a sail. Westbound traffic was shut down for more than 6 hours on Tuesday morning.
Read the full report Sun here.
Read WBOC’s report here.
Lainey Harrison says
Lets hope they are right, it was just the wind….. who inspects our bridges? I do have one major complaint with MDTA on this issue. Why did it take so long for MDTA to inform QAC officials that the bridge was closed?
Bill Anderson says
Does anybody really believe that the state was going to allow that bridge to be closed days ahead of and to the detriment of the Labor Day weekend traffic?? The beaches would be crying for a week. I may just have a toll bridge to sell to those who accept the “tarp acting as a sail” theory. I sincerely hope they are correct — in the meantime, my travel plans just changed.
Zach MIlash says
Look for another rise in the bridge toll! Fixing a broken bridge isn’t cheap… if only there were money in the transportation fund to allocate.
joe diamond says
Zach,
It is worse than you think. The Bay Bridge and other toll facilities kinda pay for themselves. What the toll increase can and will be used for is to pay down the debt on the ICC (Intercounty Connector). IF you are in Rockville and want to go to BWI it is great. Part of the sales pitch was to relieve congestion on the Washington Beltway. It is still jammed and the ICC is still empty.
So send in any spare change……………. consider how an Essex, MD to Rock Hall, MD ramp / tunnel from the Baltimore Beltway would fit the local economic mix. Reach the beach with a pee in C Town?
Joe
And if you are the Zach of troop 130, sleep well at night and know, your troop pal Edgar is on the tip of the spear out in Germany with the USAF learning to fit in with his BMW on the Autobahn. He is also bringing godless communists to their knees.
Jack Offett says
The Bay Bridge and all toll facilities must be self-sustaining. Joe makes the veiled suggestion that somehow the Bay Bridge pays for itself and the surplus goes to pay for construction of the ICC.
Despite what Smipkin believe (or at least want you to believe), the Bay Bridge (which is actually two separate bridges extending nearly 7 miles) pays for itself. Not true. It is subsidized by other toll operations.
We should applaud the MdTA employees who were concerned enough to call in the inspectors. They could have blown it off, there could have been an issue, and then we would be just as pissed off.
joe diamond says
Hi Jack,
I look at the other tolls around the state and in each case you see a toll booth, you see a bridge. Pay toll…use bridge. Recently the Bay Bridge toll went up. I would assume that would be for bridge maintenance. Even if the money went into a bridge fund I don’t see the ICC as part of the mix.
The ICC is different. It is a big, well constructed road that is now underused, in my opinion. I have been on it a few times at different times of the day and it has been pleasant without the traffic. Perhaps Montgomery County will find a way to use it. I just don’t see the ICC fitting in with the other structures with tolls. It is more like a segment of I-95 which has federal tolls and access to more federal money.
Could Chestertown rig the same arrangement to replace the current aging river bridge? Could Chestertown charge a toll and get funds from the ICC and other state toll bridges?
You are correct about the last part………..if bridge engineers detected something on their instruments, hat is what they and the instruments are for. Stop trafic for an inspection. The Bay Bridge has had some maintenance issues with the problem of “Get it done” vs “Do it right.”
Ill dig around on this one.
Joe
joe diamond says
Ok Jack,
Since crows are out of season I’ll eat my words…sort of.
Seems there is no surplus. Higher fuel costs, less driving / bridge usage & rising maintenance costs combine to keep the Bay Bridge from being the cash cow I expected. AND the ICC is funded through independent bonds that are being paid down. ….sort of. I could not find an analysis of each toll facility. Just big pie charts with all toll facility income mixed in and their overheads combined.
None of what I found discussed all the other bridges on MD roads so there is still trouble right here in river city.
Digression stiflled!
Joe
Lainey Harrison says
Were the inspectors independent or MDTA employees? Anybody know?
Also I would love to see the financials on the toll facilities.