Bridges, tunnels and bay ferries

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I was speaking recently with an acquaintance who was telling me how he has enjoyed his vacation home in Fenwick Island, Delaware over the past 30 years. He then modified that thought, bringing up the nightmarish experience of traversing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge required to reach Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the Atlantic beaches. He has learned to avoid the worst of the traffic congestion, never traveling during peak hours on Fridays or Sundays on summer weekends.

We then proceeded to discuss plans for a second bay crossing to relieve current travel pains and accommodate future growth. In fact, the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), which owns, finances and operates the William Preston Lane, Jr, Memorial Bridge, has been studying options for a new crossing over the last few years. Early on it looked at a wide range of possibilities to relieve traffic on the bridge, which now carries 26 million vehicles a year. That included consideration of bay ferries, which had been the only option for crossing the bay until the 1950s.

But ferries, however attractive as a nod to nostalgia, were soon deemed not feasible. It turns out that the MDTA, after several rounds of studies, has narrowed its thinking, not to a second crossing, but to a total replacement with a new 8- or 10-lane bay bridge constructed just to the north or to the south of the existing structure. Upon completion of the new bridge, the existing structure would be taken down and consigned to history.

The price tag for this new, wider span has been placed in the $7 to $8 billion range. And it brings to mind a whole raft of big-ticket infrastructure items currently on the drawing boards or actively being implemented.

For example, work is now underway in the heart of Baltimore, as the need to rehabilitate and reconfigure the Howard Street tunnel was recognized, and a plan to accomplish that was set in motion. The reconfiguration was required in order to allow double-stacked CSX freight trains to run through the tunnel built late in the 19th century by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. With freight traffic temporarily paused since February, construction crews are working around the clock to lower the track bed by two feet. The $466-million cost of this project is being shared by the State of Maryland, CSX, the Federal Railroad Administration, and because the benefits of this project flow directly to points north, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

An even larger, costlier tunnel project is in line for implementation at a short distance to the north and west of the work taking place below Howard Street. I’m referring to the Frederick Douglass tunnel, regarding which last week I received this alert, letting the West Baltimore public know that work is actually underway:

• Pile driving will take approximately two weeks to complete.
• Residents can expect elevated noise from construction activities and moving equipment, such as jackhammering and equipment backup alerts.

This noisy activity is in the interest of constructing the new Frederick Douglass Tunnel, replacing the B and P Tunnel, dating to the Civil War era. This investment deals with the largest bottleneck on Amtrak‘s Northeast Corridor and aims at providing a swifter, safer passage through the city for Amtrak and MARC commuter trains. According to the project website, “The new 2-mile Frederick Douglass Tunnel will serve electrified passenger trains and support travel speeds up to 100 mph, more than three times faster than today.”

The price tag for this improvement to travel along the Northeast Corridor is $6 billion. The largest share of the funding, $4.7 billion, comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Additional resources come from the Maryland Department of Transportation, $450 million, and Amtrak’s largest investment across its system in the amount of $727 million.

It’s kind of breathtaking to think of these projects actually underway, while there is so much more waiting in the wings. We are all aware of the desperate need to replace the Francis Scott Key bridge, lost in the tragic accident in March of last year. A nearly $2 billion cost has been assigned to the new design.

And then there is the Red Line. Readers of this column are familiar with the now decades-long saga of the Red Line, designed to connect communities across an east-west corridor through Baltimore and to integrate with other modes, including the Baltimore Metro and MARC service. Now, starting over, we are still too early in the process to assign a price tag, let alone identify the sources of funding.

Well, it’s now summer. Enjoy your time “downy ocean,” choosing the right time to travel.

Joe Nathanson is the retired principal of Urban Information Associates, a Baltimore-based economic and community development consulting firm. Since 2001, he has written a monthly column for The Daily Record and can be contacted at [email protected]