Maryland Sen. Roy Dyson argues in a recent op-ed that the Thomas Johnson Bridge that spans St. Mary’s and Calvert counties is in desperate need of replacement, or at the very least relief from the volume of traffic it’s expected to withstand each day.
I don’t agree with Dyson about much, and not least his general outlook that all problems big and small can be fixed by the government, but he’s right that this bridge — colloquially known as the Solomons Bridge — is frighteningly unsafe.
About 20 years ago, the bridge was closed for months, due to structural deficiencies. It got another band aid treatment. That’s all it ever gets. A boat’s eye view of the underside of the bridge is hair-raising. It is braced and over-braced. Its pilings appear to be in various stages of rot. For years, I have said…and I repeat it now “I don’t think it’s (the Thomas Johnson Bridge) safe.”
It’s funny that the shot of the “band-aid” braces included with Dyson’s article only shows two reinforcement rods. One day I’ll grab some photos from my boat showing braces containing at least eight rods.
This bridge needs to be replaced. My wife and I are so sick of traveling over it every day that we’re in the process of trying to move to St. Mary’s county so we won’t need to cross it to get to work anymore. But aside from the hassle of traffic congestion, sooner or later many people are going to be killed by this bridge when a section plummets into the Patuxent River. Take a second and write that down. It’s a virtual certainty.
While Dyson has the right idea here, it’s too bad he doesn’t push for outright privatization of the bridge. At this point, I’m not sure how many contractors out there would want to assume ownership given the headaches associated with building on or over the water in Maryland, but it would certainly speed up the improvement/replacement process if we didn’t have to put our faith in the state to clean up this mess. Governments generally don’t act until it’s too late — and that usually means that someone has to die before any money is allocated to fix anything.
We can kill two birds with one stone before we have to kill dozens of people with one bridge. Privatizing the TJ Bridge would mean saving taxpayers the burden of footing the bill while at the same time removing much of the bureaucracy that will ultimately hold up this project for years.
(Thanks to Rick.)
Trevor Bothwell maintains the web log, Who’s Your Nanny? Contact him at bothwelltj@yahoo.com.