What was the length of the original span of the bridge which made ocean beaches on the Eastern Shore of Maryland more accessible to visitors from Washington, D.C.?
Chesapeake Bay Bridge The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the "Bay Bridge") is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, 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 mi , 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 William Preston Lane Jr. who, as the 52nd Governor of Maryland, initiated its construction in the late 1940s finally after decades of political indecision and public controversy.
2005 Chesapeake Bay crossing study The 2005 Chesapeake Bay crossing study (also known as the Task Force on Traffic Capacity Across the Chesapeake Bay) was a study conducted by the state of Maryland in 2005 in order to explore the possibility of building a new crossing of the Chesapeake Bay. The crossing would either be an entirely new crossing that would complement the existing Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia or would be an upgrade to the current Maryland crossing (by adding a third span).