Maryland Transportation Authority officials said a trio of public meetings this week on the latest phase of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge replacement went well, and the project is now advancing toward final stages ahead of design and construction.
After a review period running through most of this year, MDTA and federal officials will make a final selection on the plan in November, with design potentially starting in 2028 and construction as soon as 2032.
MDTA presented its final recommendation late last year for “Alternative C,” which would increase capacity from five lanes to eight across the bay while keeping current lane configurations on the U.S. 50/301 approaches. The plan, estimated to cost between $14.8 billion and $17.6 billion, calls for building two new spans — one south of the current bridge and another between the existing spans — before removing the old structures.
“It is a long process, but we are very close to the finish line,” Melissa Williams, MDTA director of planning and program development, told The Baltimore Sun.
MDTA hosted three public meetings this week, including a virtual meeting Monday and town halls in Anne Arundel County on Tuesday and Queen Anne’s County on Thursday.
“What we just showed was the draft environmental impact statement, where we shared all of the alternatives, which was no build, plus the six build alternatives, and we indicated that Alternative C was MDTA’s recommended preferred alternative,” she said. “Basically, we came out and we said, look at everything we’ve done over the past several years. Here’s all of our engineering and environmental analysis. We think that Alternative C works the best. What do you think?”