Feds clear Maryland's plan to replace the Chesapeake Bay Bridge with two new spans

The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) said on Nov. 5 that FHWA had signed the Tier 2 Bay Crossing Study's final environmental impact statement (FEIS), issued together with its Record of Decision. The selected plan, Alternative C, puts both new spans in the current U.S. 50/301 corridor between Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's counties. The existing spans, opened in 1952 and 1973, come down once traffic moves to their replacements.

The new bridges get 230 feet of navigational clearance, matching the bridge now being rebuilt in Baltimore harbor, so larger ships can reach the Port of Baltimore. U.S. 50/301 goes to eight lanes between a point west of Oceanic Drive and one east of Cox Creek. MDTA also committed up to $40 million for transit and agreed to preserve land on the Eastern Shore.

ENR reported that the FEIS estimates the cost at $14.8 billion to $16.1 billion, and that an optional bike and pedestrian path would add about $1.3 billion. MDTA has said nothing yet about how it will pay for the bridge or which delivery method it will use. The authority is paid for by tolls and gets no gas tax or state trust fund money. Planning director Melissa Williams told The Banner that final design could start in spring 2028 and construction in summer 2032, and that the path decision will be made during final design.

Officials have said they would build one span at a time and shift traffic before demolishing each old one, The Banner reported. MDTA is also rebuilding Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, due to finish by the end of 2030. A design-build contract for roughly $160 million of pier protection on the current Bay Bridge is expected by mid-2027, an MDTA spokesperson told the paper.