The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. It connects the state’s rural Eastern Shore region with the urban Western Shore. The original span, opened in 1952 and with a length of 4. 3 miles, was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure. The bridge is officially named the Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge.
About Chesapeake Bay Bridge in brief
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. It connects the state’s rural Eastern Shore region with the urban Western Shore. The original span, opened in 1952 and with a length of 4. 3 miles, was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure. The parallel span was added in 1973. The bridge is officially named the Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge after the 52nd Governor of Maryland, who initiated its construction in the late 1940s finally after decades of political indecision and public controversy. As part of cross-country US 50, it connects the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area with Ocean City, Maryland, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and other coastal tourist resort destinations. It also serves as part of an alternative route for Interstate 95 travelers, between northern Delaware and the Washington, D. C. area. Because of this linkage, the bridge is busy and has become known as a point of traffic congestion, particularly during peak hours and summer months. Future expansion of the bridge has been discussed since 2004, with a task force being formed to investigate the possibility of building a third span. Several weather-related closures have caused the bridge to be closed because of the narrowness of the spans, low guardrails, and the low frequency of high winds, it is often cited as one of the scariest bridges in the United States of United States. The first known proposal came about in 1907 and called for a crossing between Baltimore and Tolchester Beach.
Plans for the new bridge were made, but construction was canceled following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 with the collapse of the American economy and resulting Great Depression of the 1930s. A 1938 proposal by the Maryland General Assembly was the first to call for a bridge at the Sandy Point–Kent Island location. In 1947, with the war over, the Assembly passed legislation directing the old State Roads Commission to begin construction. Ground was broken in January 1949, and after a 3 1⁄2-year construction project, theBridge opened to traffic on July 30, 1952, as both the longest continuousOver-water Steel Structure in the world and the third longest bridge in the world. It is possible that studies may have been conducted as early as the 1880s into the possibility of a bridge across the Chesapeake Bay. The economic impact on the areas it connects has been significant, with both Queen Anne’s County and Ocean City expanding significantly since the bridge’s construction. On November 9, 1967 the bridge was dedicated to Governor Lane, who had earlier that year officially renamed the William Preston Lane Memorial Bridge. In 1967 due to increasing traffic volume, the General Assembly authorized increasing traffic on the bridge, and it was officially renamed William Preston Lane J. Lane Jr Memorial Bridge on November 9, 1967. It was ultimately completed on June 28, 1973, and is ultimately the tallest bridge in America.
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