ASSOCIATEDPRESS
A yearlong state investigation into whether a new bridge should be built across the Chesapeake Bay was released yesterday without making a recommendation.
The report, the result of a task force of state and Eastern Shore officials, concluded that the issue is complex, controversial and compelling, but that more study is needed before a new bridge can be considered.
Traffic “congestion is already a pressing issue that must be dealt with, and further delay will only exacerbate an already serious problem,” the task force said. But it offered no recommendation for how to solve the problem.
The 19-member task force was appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in 2004 after state planners predicted that traffic on the two spans between Annapolis and Kent Island would increase 40 percent by 2025. Twelve-hour delays would become commonplace, engineers warned.
The task force held public meetings and hired engineers to examine areas for a potential new bridge. Its final report doesn’t say which location would be best, though. Mostly it details the options, including a northern crossing, to adding another span at the current Chesapeake Bay Bridge, to two sites to the south.
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