Final Public Hearing on Toll Hike to Be in Berlin

Berlin will be one of two sites on the Eastern Shore for a town hall debate about the proposed increase of the bay bridge toll fee to $8.

The meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. on July 14, at Stephen Decatur Middle School at 9815 Seahawk Road in Berlin. This will be the 10th hearing that officials from the Maryland Transportation Authority have scheduled for citizens to have their say about the proposed increase on toll roads, which are funded and managed solely by the authority without finances from the state coffers.

Along with other rate increases proposed by the authority for state toll roads, the toll for the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge, as it is formally named, would double from the current $2.50 to $5 starting in October and then raise to $8 in 2013.

Until the announcement by the group on June 22, the only other scheduled meeting on the Eastern Shore was held on June 15 at Kent Island High School in Stevensville — more than two hours away from Ocean City. All of the other meetings were held in Maryland suburbs.

Because the Bay Bridge is an economic lifeline that brings traffic to the Eastern Shore, and specifically Ocean City, Sen. Jim Mathias (D-38) and Delegate Norm Conway (D-38) asked the Transportation Authority to hold a hearing in the Ocean City area for Lower Shore residents concerned about the increase.

Kelly Melhem, spokeswoman for the authority, said the hearings being attended across the state by board members of the authority are the most extensive in the history of the agency because of the importance of the toll issue.

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