A new bridge close to Chesapeake Bay Bridge would provide the most traffic relief, study says.
'Maryland transportation officials have determined that building another bridge near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge would relieve traffic backups better than an additional crossing much farther to the north or south, according to state findings released Tuesday.
Three corridors that are each two miles wide — one adjacent to the bridge, one just north of it and another just south — will be studied in more detail before any alignment is chosen, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. That narrows the possible corridors from 14 initially under consideration.
However, the study has already found that building an additional bridge in the same corridor as the existing one would best reduce cross-bay traffic backups, both on summer weekends and non-summer weekdays, state officials said. The Bay Bridge connects Routes 50/301 in Anne Arundel County on the west with Kent Island in Queen Anne’s County on the Eastern Shore.
The study found that without an additional crossing, eastbound traffic congestion at the Bay Bridge on summer weekends in 2040 would span 12 hours, two hours more than in 2017. If another bridge is built in the same corridor, the Bay Bridge would have no backups in either direction — on summer weekends or non-summer weekdays — the study found.
Without an additional crossing, the Bay Bridge would carry almost 17,000 more vehicles daily on summer weekends by 2040. With another bridge near it, daily weekend traffic on the Bay Bridge would drop by about 40,000 vehicles in 2040, according to the study.'>>>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/a-new-bridge-close-to-chesapeake-bay-bridge-would-relieve-the-most-traffic-study-says/2019/08/27/3c2550b8-c8dc-11e9-a4f3-c081a126de70_story.html?