The Chesapeake Bay Bridge may be iconic, but the state now plans to replace its aging twin spans with two entirely new bridges.
The Maryland Transportation Authority has been studying how to ease mounting traffic woes on the bridge that carries tens of thousands of vehicles a day between Anne Arundel County and the Eastern Shore and that often becomes a traffic-snarled nightmare, especially on summer weekends.
Officials initially considered adding a new crossing somewhere else in the state or even a ferry service for cars, but quickly narrowed their options down to using the area of the current span.
On Tuesday, officials further focused their plans, announcing that they would consider six options to replace the older spans, all of which would involve expanding bridge capacity to eight or 10 lanes and eventually tearing down the older bridges. Considerations for public transit use on the future bridge exist but are limited, despite the fact that widening roads alone often fails to relieve traffic congestion over time.