After horrendous Friday backups at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that lasted hours and stretched for 14 miles approaching the bridge on U.S. 50, the Maryland Department of Transportation will change what happens in the future.
When eastbound traffic backs up to Interstate 97, the department will hold westbound traffic on the bridge for short periods of time to allow three lanes of traffic headed to the Eastern Shore and Delmarva beaches, unless prevented by severe weather conditions.
The backups occurred on the first weekend that the bridge did not have two-way operations on the westbound span because of a long-term, $27 million maintenance project.
The backups were so bad that they prompted the Maryland Transportation Authority to temporarily waive tolls on the bridge.
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If there is that many coming to the Eastern Shore then there should be a limit set on these nuts. The congestion just gets worst and these idiots do not obey speed limits. They drive very aggressive and go 20mph over the speed limit. Politians never ask why about anything and never solve problems in a reasonable manner. they just want that money. Hogan could care less since he has an escort with lights flashing and riding on the shoulders.
ReplyDeleteNooooooo.....Nooooo
ReplyDeleteI want the speed limit to be 75....
remove all lights on 50 East Bound
LET US DRIVE TO THE BEACH....
Stay over the bridge P.S.
DeleteThey need to reduce the number of toll lanes to two. The issue isn't the volume of traffic. The traffic only becomes a problem when you have 14 lanes trying to merge into two. If it was just two lanes with a license plate reader or require everyone to have an EZ pass to eliminate stopping it would flow much smoother.
ReplyDeleteSeptember 28, 2019 at 6:24 PM
ReplyDeleteStupid much?
force me to pay for an ez pass reader? yea had one and turned it in. i spent more time fighting citations for tolls that were paid. what do you expect from a government run agency
license plate reader? did you know in states that do that it costs more because they tack on an admin fee to send you the bill.
what do you expect when your tax collecting platform is from the 50's and never evolved.
They need to do what Virginia does. They have gates to stop people from getting off on an exit only to try and race the rest of the traffic and hold everyone up when they try to merge back onto 50. Last night Bay Dale Drive was a raceway to impatient drivers trying to get ahead of the rest of us. If you gate off the exit during backups this would stop. Would not solve the problem, but hopefully alleviate some of the crawling along.
ReplyDeleteI have a better idea. Close the bridge forever. Western shore can stay on western shore, we'll stay here.
ReplyDeleteComing home from UMMC took us 4 1/2 hours. 2 hours alone between 97 and the Bridge. There should be all high speed toll lanes to the extreme left hand side and regular cash and EZ Pass to the right. For 3 lanes to open into 14 then go back to 2 is insane. They simply cluster bang the flow of traffic.
ReplyDeleteEliminate the tolls period.
ReplyDeleteHell would freeze over first!
Deletebut we don't want it to flow smoothly. no money in that. create a problem then attack it with tax increases to pay for creation of a new money generator / problem! keep repeating cycle until you have a failed democratic state!
ReplyDeleteDefine "short period of time."
ReplyDeleteMANY PEOPLE TRAVEL ACROSS THE BRIDGE TO GET TO BALTIMORE DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS FOR APPOINTMENTS DAILY. WE WERE IN IT ON FRIDAY AND IT WAS A REAL MESS!!!
ReplyDeleteI know it's only $4, but it doesn't seem fair for most of us to pay the $4 earlier in the day, and then give the late-comers a free pass. We suffered through 45-minutes of delays. And it wasn't any better after the toll booth. The bay bridge speed limit of 40mph plays into it too.
ReplyDelete6:48
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are the stupid one. Maryland gave out ezpasses for free about a year ago. We already had one and they upgraded that one and we got 2 more for other vehicles. Never once had a problem with them no matter where we have used them. Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware and many other states.
If you morns put a bridge to Charles county from Cambridge, it would ease traffic up a great deal... But what do I know, I am just a civil engineer...
ReplyDelete