Council wants to replace Bay Bridge

County calls on state to scrap its plan and build new span instead

The Anne Arundel County Council passed a resolution Monday calling for the state to replace the existing two spans of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge with a single span that holds eight lanes or more.

Anne Arundel and Queen Anne’s counties want the state to scrap the option of adding a third span to the existing bay bridge, which is the solution offered by a state-sponsored study of the traffic problem.

A third span, in the same location or another, won’t fix traffic for either county, Anne Arundel County Councilwoman Amanda Fiedler said.

Fiedler, the resolution’s lead sponsor, calls it a “step toward traffic relief ” that will help residents move freely.

The resolution on Monday passed 6 to 1.

In June, the Anne Arundel County Council passed a resolution opposing the completion of the $5 million study being conducted to find a solution to the traffic congestion on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

At that meeting, they discussed how some believed the Maryland Transportation Authority, which maintains the bridge, needed to revisit the purpose of the study, among other considerations they didn’t think were being addressed.

The study by the Maryland Transportation Authority began in 2016, the final environmental impact statement and record of decision are scheduled to be completed this winter.

The report provides three different possible locations for a new span of the bridge — one through Pasadena, one through Edgewater, and one through Annapolis next to the existing bridge — as well as a no-build option.

Gov. Larry Hogan has said the only option he would accept to alleviate the traffic congestion is adding the third span next to the existing bridge.