Rascovar: The unfunded costs of a third Bay Bridge

Rascovar: The unfunded costs of a third Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge toll plaza (Photo by Mrs. Gemstone with Flickr Creative Commons License.)

By Barry Rascovar

For MarylandReporter.com

Bay Bridge toll plaza (Photo by Mrs. Gemstone)

Bay Bridge toll plaza (Photo by Mrs. Gemstone with Flickr Creative Commons License.)

It was ironic that news of Jerry Wolff’s death this past week coincided with the splashy announcement from Gov. Larry Hogan, Jr. of a $5 million study to examine the site and funding options for a third Chesapeake Bay Bridge crossing.

Wolff was the last all-powerful head of the State Roads Commission during the late 1960s under Gov. Spiro T. Agnew. He was the mastermind behind legislative approval and construction of the parallel bay bridge span.

That 1973 structure cost $148 million. The original Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which was built after a 15-year battle for a mere $45 million, opened in 1952.

The next bay crossing could cost a staggering $7 billion – and probably double that by the time it opens 10 or 15 years from now. [Editor’s Note: Last year’s Bay Bridge study with cost estimates.]

Or rather, if a third span is ever built.

Mega-bucks needed

Even with federal assistance, Maryland would be hard pressed to find that staggering amount of money for a project that mainly alleviates monster traffic backups on summer weekends. The rest of the year the existing parallel structures easily handle two-way traffic between the eastern and western shores.

Moreover, a critical part of any funding solution – bridge and tunnel tolls – was cut by Hogan to fulfill a campaign promise to lower taxes.

That means a revenue loss to the Maryland Transportation Authority that could approach $1 billion over the next 15 years – just when a third bay span would need to be financed.

Having foreclosed that pivotal revenue source, how in the world does Hogan intend to pay for this massive undertaking?

Answer: He doesn’t.

Hogan is passing the buck, this time to a study group that conveniently won’t report back to him until 2020. Then Hogan can flip the hot potato of how to pay for such a stunningly expensive construction project to the Democratic legislature and blame them for inaction.

Another ‘boondoggle’?

Ironically, it was Hogan who killed the Baltimore-area’s major transportation initiative, the $3 billion Red Line project – which had $900 million in federal funding lined up. He claimed it was way too expensive. Hogan sneeringly called the Red Line’s downtown tunnel “a boondoggle.”

Yet now he is promoting a third bay crossing at double or triple that amount at a time when the state is short on transportation funds, in part due to Hogan’s populist toll reductions.

Maryland has other enormously expensive toll-road needs that Hogan doesn’t want to confront – or pay for.

The dangerously steep and narrow two-lane Harry W. Nice Bridge spanning the Potomac River between Charles County and the northern neck of Virginia is 76 years old. It’s not in great shape.

Hogan blocked $50 million allocated by his predecessor for planning and design of a new four-lane span, claiming a new $1 billion crossing would be too expensive.

He favors a far cheaper Band-Aid approach to the existing, aging structure, which is a bottleneck and lacks shoulders. Powerful lawmakers, though, are trying to force him to bite the bullet and replace the Potomac crossing.

Then there’s the Thomas J. Hatem Bridge connecting U.S. 40 between Harford and Cecil counties. It, too, is 76 years old. It cost just $5 million when built. But giving it a foundational overhaul will be extremely expensive. Hogan hasn’t allocated a penny for that undertaking.

Playing politics

Instead, the governor wants to win political points with beachside merchants and summer vacationers headed “downy ocean” by holding out the promise of easy travel across the Chesapeake but leaving the tough funding decisions to someone else.

Already critics are calling Hogan’s plan a new boondoggle.

Even if the state turned to a public-private partnership – which would hand all the revenue and control of the span (and possibly the parallel crossings, too) to a for-profit company – paying the state’s share for a third bay bridge would crowd out virtually every major toll and bridge improvement for years to come.

There’s also the complicated matter of expanding roads leading to the third span on both sides of the bridge. It can’t be done inexpensively or without an environmental cost. Local opposition could be intense.

Hogan, of course, might try to get the job done with a patch-up by adding a single lane to the original bay bridge. But even that falls into the mega-billion-dollar range.

Why a third span?

All this begs the question as to whether a third span is essential.

Given the reality of climate change and rising sea levels, by the time a third crossing opens for vehicles much of Ocean City’s beach could be under water. The rush to O.C. might slow dramatically in a quarter-century.

Sen. John Astle, whose Annapolis district includes the western bay bridge approaches, calls this an “impossible problem.” Maryland can’t afford the incredibly high price of a third bay bridge and Hogan has shown zero inclination to raise revenue to pay for it.

Thus, the Hogan study group is likely to produce another report that will gather dust on a shelf. That was true of a study under Gov. Bob Ehrlich and a report under Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Hogan just wants to curry favor with beach-going voters and Ocean City businesses without having to take the unpopular step of raising tolls and other taxes to build a third crossing of the nation’s largest estuary.

Barry Rascovar’s blog is politicalmaryland.com.. His email address is www.brascovar@hotmail.com.

4 Comments

  1. Nomoremaos

    Well – I partially agree that the traffic – at least Friday evenings and weekends isn’t nearly as bad as many depict. We live in northern va and drive to Rock Hall, Md every weekend. Rarely – and I mean rarely, do we sit in traffic. We travel Friday evenings and Saturday’s and sundays… Hogan has recently announced the removal of manual $ collections with only smart tags as an option. That will surely help reduce traffic. I also agree this is nothing more than to appease the mayor of ocean city and unintentionally Rehoboth- not even a md town. We sit in traffic on the bridge over the Severn more often than the bay bridge. The inaccurate metrics being touted by special interests groups should tell you everything – that summer traffic should be expected but it’s not growing (as one study learned) and a new bridge should be more about replacing aging infrastructure as opposed to reducing a few more minutes to OC.

  2. Christopher Estep

    Mr. Brascovar – have you ever used the Bay Bridge? I have driven across it twice (my first time doing so was a night-time crossing); it’s problematical because the only OTHER crossing is the far-longer (and narrower) Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (US13) with a southern end of Norfolk, VA (five hours SOUTH of Annapolis).. Neither the Governor Hatem Bridge (US40) or the Millard Tydings Bridge (I-95) actually cross the Bay; instead, they cross the Bay’s main water source – the Susquehanna River; both are also an hour north of the twin Bay Bridges. Neither is exactly practical for travelers from either Annapolis OR eastern Southern Maryland (especially those coming north on Southern Maryland Boulevard – MD 2); even though there is I-97, which starts in Annapolis (the southern terminus is @ US50/301) – and especially if your destination is Ocean City, MD OR Rehoboth Beach, DE. In other words, the Bay Bridge is a chokepoint – and the backups on weekends prove it. The problem is not the tolls (all the crossings are, in fact, tolled) – the issue is that there is NO crossing between the Bay Bridges and the CBBT south, or between the Bay Bridges and the Governor Hatem Bridge. Summer means boardwalks and Ocean City to a LOT of Marylanders (especially those that have exactly zero interest in gambling for whatever reason). A third crossing is necessary – and the ONLY way it can be paid for is tolls (and via the Maryland Transportation Authority). If you are worried about growing toll PLAZAS, you can fix THAT at the same time, by shifting to AET (which the MDTA already uses with MD200, and will be shifting to at all tolled facilities anyway due entirely TO the success of MD200’s AET).

  3. MD_Trump_Fan

    Just another unhinged Rascovar column showcasing his sophomoric loathing of Governor Hogan. TP-ing the Governor’s Mansion or keying Hogan’s car would be more mature than Rascovar’s rants.

  4. David Taylor

    Why don’t you try commuting over the Bay Bridge on a daily basis, year round, and tell me another span isn’t needed? I do, and you are wrong, as usual. It’s politcal malpractice and cowardice that long time incumbents and previous Governors have ignored the need for another span.

    I listened to you on WBAL this morning. Your accusations that Governor Hogan does everything for “political reasons” is absurd. I guess you’re just a little butthurt because he isn’t pandering to Baltimore City, PG and Montgomery, or the Mikes, and is actually paying attention to other areas of the state.

    We all know that you are an unabashed liberal. But if you’re going to be taken seriously, even a little objectivity is called for from time to time.