As Maryland transportation officials continue to envision the future of Chesapeake Bay crossings, the state is now proposing removing the existing Bay Bridge spans and replacing them with new, wider structures in the same area.

The plan to remove and replace the existing four-mile bridge near its current location comes after years of evaluating how to alleviate traffic, which worsens during the summer and when maintenance prompts lane closures. It also follows several years of analyzing more than a dozen alternative locations, with the current area found to be the best solution for traffic relief.

The Maryland Transportation Authority is considering six options for the new spans, all of which would include adding more lanes, as well as improvements to bus service. The new crossings could be slightly north or south of the current structure, or one span could be between the existing spans.

Four of the proposed options would have eight travel lanes, four on each span — an increase from the typical two lanes eastbound and three lanes westbound, with occasional two-way traffic heading east on the larger span if there’s heavy traffic. Two of the options would keep the existing six travel lanes on the Route 50 approaches to the bridge on the eastern and western shores, while the other two alternatives could see an increase to eight lanes on land.

Two additional options call for 10 lanes on the new bridge and eight lanes on the eastern and western shores of the structure.

In all six options, state officials are considering new shoulder lanes for additional traffic or public transit to cross the bay — several Maryland Transit Administration commuter bus routes run from the Eastern Shore to Washington — as well as a shared use path for bikes and pedestrians. The existing shoulders are “substandard,” the MDTA said, and there is no space for disabled vehicles to pull over.

The bridge’s vertical clearance would also be raised higher than its current highest point of 186 feet — a constraint on shipping, the MDTA said. Officials will work with the Coast Guard to determine the vertical clearance of a new structure to accommodate larger vessels, said Melissa Williams, the agency’s director of planning and program development.

It’s “very likely” officials will seek a similar vertical clearance to other structures in the area, Williams said, including the new Francis Scott Key Bridge, which is expected to be at least 230 feet tall.

Protecting a new Bay Bridge from vessel strikes is also something being evaluated in light of the Key Bridge collapse earlier this year. In designing a new bridge, the MDTA is looking at today’s standards for vessel collision systems in its plans, but those standards could change by the time the bridge is built.

The Bay Bridge, however, is more secure than the Key Bridge in some ways. It has a wider horizontal clearance between support piers than the old Key Bridge, making vessel collisions less likely.

A timeline for constructing the new bridge has yet to be determined, Williams said.

“I would say I’d probably allow about five years for your procurement and for design — and that’d be moving pretty quick — and then get out there and start constructing, so maybe five years after the conclusion of NEPA we could see construction beginning,” she said.

The National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA, requires projects receiving federal funding or approval to assess potential effects on human and natural environments. A draft environmental impact statement is anticipated by fall 2025.

The agency is still “thoroughly evaluating” a no-build option as well, Williams said, but not building a new bridge would be costly.

Since 1970, the state has spent $1.1 billion maintaining and rehabilitating the existing Bay Bridge. Keeping up with work on the two aging bridge spans is estimated to cost $3.8 billion through 2065.

The continued repairs are an inconvenience for drivers, too. Though lane closures typically happen overnight and during off hours, closures will extend into peak periods, and major repairs like beam replacements will require full-time lane closures, the agency said.

High traffic volume isn’t only an issue on summer weekends. The bridge averages 120,000 vehicles on peak days, Williams said, and the agency anticipates that number rising to 135,000 vehicles per day by 2040.

“No build, or leaving the existing bridges there, is by no means saying that we will not be spending money,” she said. “Folks say, ‘Well, billions of dollars for a new bridge, the state can’t afford it’ — well, the state has to afford, MDTA has to be able to afford keeping our facilities in a state of good repair.”

In comparison, the MDTA estimates building a new eight-lane bridge would cost $7.3 billion. A 10-lane bridge is estimated to cost $8.4 billion.

The agency also hasn’t ruled out implementing transportation management strategies such as congestion pricing, or changing the cost to cross the bridge throughout the day, as well as interchange consolidation, part-time shoulder use or park-and-ride facilities.

Three open houses, one of which is virtual, will be held in December for residents to review the proposal and alternatives, as well as speak with MDTA representatives. The Anne Arundel County open house is Dec. 9 at Broadneck High School.

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