More than 335,000 vehicles are expected to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge over this Memorial Day weekend. Those who have spent hours in gridlock, traveling to and returning from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, can attest that the Bay Bridge is unequipped to accommodate traffic volume of that magnitude. As a result, weekend travelers can be subjected to 14–15-mile backups, Eastern Shore residents are trapped in their homes, and first responders are incapable of responding to life-threatening emergencies.
Those who use the Bay Bridge during the week to travel to work, school, and daily appointments know that the congestion crisis is not limited to summer weekends. Even modest disruptions to optimal traffic flow can create backups that extend for miles and take hours to clear, in spite of significant efforts by the Maryland Department of Transportation to relieve congestion. These conditions pose a severe threat to lives, livelihoods, and our state’s quality of life.
The State of Maryland recognizes the need for a new Bay Bridge, which is why the Maryland Transportation Authority Board has approved two new replacement spans that will be located next to the existing spans. Given the length of time that has been spent studying the project, and the fact that infrastructure projects only become more expensive with time, the state must move as quickly as possible to complete the environmental review and planning stages of this project and move toward the construction phase.
Furthermore, we must acknowledge that the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge spans cannot, and will not, be completed through Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund. With a multibillion-dollar backlog of existing priorities, and the steady and irreversible decline in gas tax receipts, there simply is not enough money in the Trust Fund to finance a project that will cost at least $15-18 billion to complete.
With this in mind, we believe the new Bay Bridge must be built through a Public-Private Partnership (P3) – a project delivery model in which the private sector assumes the responsibility and financial risk of building the project, then provides a return to its investors through toll revenues. The P3 model works. It is being used to complete major public infrastructure projects across the world, and it is the only way that a new Chesapeake Bay Bridge will come to fruition.
According to a recent Gonzales Research poll, 85 percent of Maryland voters support the construction of a new Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The same poll found that 66 percent of those voters favor the use of a P3 to finance its construction. In an age where bipartisan, statewide consensus is hard to find, the people of Maryland agree that inaction is unsustainable and that a new Bay Bridge is a vital necessity.
The Bridges to Prosperity Coalition urges the state to move the Chesapeake Bay Bridge project forward. We also encourage the adoption of a Public-Private Partnership model, which would offer valuable financial incentives to finish the project on time and on budget.
To learn more about the Bridges to Prosperity coalition and how people can become involved in this historic, grassroots effort to get Marylanders moving again, please visit us online at www.bridges2prosperity.org.
Michael Sakata is president and CEO of the Maryland Transportation Builders and Materials Association and founder and chairman of Bridges to Prosperity Coalition.
