After a five-year evaluation of more than a dozen potential locations for a new Chesapeake Bay crossing, the Maryland Transportation Authority will now focus on augmenting the bridge already in place.
The draft Tier 1 environmental study, released by the agency Feb. 23, proposes complementing the existing 4.3-mile dual-span suspension bridge with either a third bridge or a bridge-tunnel. The current tolled structure, incorporating separate spans constructed in 1952 and 1973, serves as the primary highway link to Maryland’s Eastern Shore from the state capital in Annapolis, and from Baltimore and metropolitan Washington, D.C.