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Accident Reinforces Bridge Fears

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From georgiana, Featured Contributor
Posted on August 21, 2008

Too Scared to Cross a Bridge?

There was a terrible accident on the Bay Bridge recently which resulted in one fatality and diesel fuel spilling into the already sick Chesapeake Bay. According to local news reports, the driver of a Chevy Camaro fell asleep and swerved into the path of a tractor trailer. The driver of the truck tried to avoid the smaller car and ended up crashing through the barriers and falling off the bridge into the bay. The driver of the truck was killed and the driver of the Camaro and her passenger were taken to the hospital.

The truck left a 10-foot hole in the railing of the bridge and the entire span of the bridge was closed for emergency repairs, resulting in a ten mile backup of traffic. The Bay Bridge is the conduit for vacationers traveling from the Washington DC Metro area to Ocean City Maryland and these travelers were unprepared for the scale of the traffic jam. Warning signs were posted in Ocean City stating to expect delays but nobody expected severe delays that would continue all day and night. The bridge was reopened with a steel beam patching the hole and stayed open for several days but was closed again this past weekend in order for engineers to do a more thorough inspection for structural damage.

The accident was horrific and heartbreaking, and left many local commuters even more frightened of the bridge. I say even more because there's something about this particular bridge that frightens people. I've known people who would drive hours out of their way to avoid crossing it and others who could cross as passengers, with coats over their heads, but couldn't drive themselves. Other drivers were all right when the traffic was one way but when traffic is redirected (so that there is two-way traffic on a one way span), even normally stoic drivers can get spooked. After seeing the images from television and newspaper of the truck in the water and the hole in the bridge, commuters are even more nervous about crossing the bridge.

The original of the two spans of the bridge was completed and opened to traffic in 1952. The builders had no idea of the amount of traffic that would be crossing the bridge half a century later and even with the addition of the second span the bridge is frequently congested. Current projections expect a forty percent increase in traffic by 2025, making an expansion even more critical. There are several options in discussion but my personal favorite is a high speed monorail that can reach speeds of 300 mph connecting Kent Island to Anne Arundel County and then continuing on to Ocean City. Not only would getting to the beach be fast and easy, crossing the bay would take place so quickly you'd hardly have time to get scared at all.

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georgiana is a featured contributor for vLane.