Prince Frederick, MD – The following letter was sent to Maryland Transportation Authority Division of Project Planning and Program Development Government Relations Manager Michele K. Gross. The letter was signed by all five Calvert County commissioners.

Dear Ms. Gross:
We are aware that you have previously received correspondence from the prior Calvert County Board of County Commissioners. As of the election, three out of the five are new Board members; however, while the majority has changed, our position has not. To that end, we would like to reiterate that the Board’s position remains very much in accord with the prior Board.

We have great concerns over the potential Chesapeake Bay Bridge crossing located in Calvert County. It is inconceivable that a small, rural County, like Calvert, would even be considered as a possible location due to the lack of connectivity to major commerce and homeland security transportation corridors. Having a Chesapeake Bay Bridge located here would draw a tremendous amount of pass-through traffic to our small county, adding more stress to our already extremely busy and sometimes treacherous main artery, MD Route 4.

Calvert County has worked hard to retain our rural character. Adding a Bay Bridge crossing, we believe, would have a detrimental impact on our ability to keep any sense of rural character intact. While we understand our location is potentially prime to your project, we feel it is imperative that you understand the absolute negative impact it would have on the lives of the 90,000 residents of Calvert County. Calvert County earned the title “Charm of the Chesapeake,” because of the quality of life here; we do not want to see that quality of life tarnished in any way. A bridge such as this would, in our opinion, destroy the standard of living as we know it today.

We wish you well with your project. We just wanted you to understand how we continue to have deep concerns about having a Bay Bridge crossing in Calvert County. Please let us know if you have any questions or if you would like to
discuss further.