Bridge repairs could take 10 weeks

Commuters already feeling impact as holiday weekend looms

By LIAM FARRELL and SHANTEE WOODARDS Staff Writers

Published 08/27/08

The corrosion of steel bolts inside Jersey barriers on the Bay Bridge would not have been found with routine inspections, Maryland transportation officials said yesterday.

Paul W. Gillespie - The Capital Traffic backs up on Route 50 east at the Sandy Point overpass after a tractor trailer plunged from the Bay Bridge into the Chesapeake Bay. Officials are warning travelers this Labor Day weekend to avoid the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as major traffic delays are expected.

At the same time they also couched earlier optimistic predictions and warned the traffic-crippling emergency repairs could stretch into November.

"We had no indication (of the corrosion)," Geoffrey Kolberg, the chief engineer for the Maryland Transportation Authority, said yesterday.

Engineers using ground-penetrating radar last week discovered that the internal steel U-bolts attaching the concrete Jersey walls to the eastbound span of the...

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Bay Bridge - 2008-08-28 14:30:52

Another Bandaid on the bleeding artery. When will this pansy-of-a-Governor stop closing his eyes, thinking everything will be OK in the morning? It's been a problem for over 15 years and getting worse by the day. It only took 3 years to build the existing bridges, in the 50's and 70's. Why will it take over a decade now? It cost us taxpayers a million dollars for a study that produced NOTHING. Try to commute from Kent Island to Annapolis every day. That's the only study we need. What tragedy has to happen next in order to get a parallel crossing? Someone needs to take a stand....US!

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Mark Praschak - Chester, MD - Karma: Neutral