SOLOMONS, Md. – On May 23, U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Calvert County Commission President Earl “Buddy” Hance, St. Mary’s County Commissioner President James “Randy” Guy, State Senator Jack Bailey, Delegate Rachel Jones, and St. Mary’s County Commissioner Todd Morgan visited Solomons to discuss the urgent need to fix Maryland’s bridges.
The members also discussed their work in acquiring more than $400 million in federal funding for the next five years. The first round of the bridge project funding will be more than $80 million.
The Thomas Johnson Bridge, which was completed in 1977 and has been a key connection for transportation between St. Mary’s and Calvert County, is one of the 273 bridges in Maryland that has been deemed poor or structurally deficient. The bridge has the demanding task of transporting nearly 33,000 vehicles a day.
The idea of building a new bridge has been bouncing around for quite some time. Although, it finally looks like this is gaining traction with lawmakers. $1 million, which was funded by the fiscal year 2022 funding bill, has been secured for a project/design, to widen MD 4 for a potential Thomas Johnson Bridge replacement.
“We’ve had a lot of growth in St. Mary’s and southern Calvert County…we also have Pax River. All three of those are national security interests, not just St. Mary’s, Calvert, or local interests, they are national interests and they require national attention,” Congressman Hoyer said. “That’s why all of us are here because we’re one team. We may be of different parties, we may have different perspectives on certain issues, but there is a unity of purpose of what needs to happen with this bridge…”
Over the past year, we’ve also seen a significant rise in suicide attempts on the Thomas Johnson bridge. With the rising concerns, many residents are wondering what actions will be taken to prevent any further tragedies.
“We know that the state is working on suicide prevention measures with the bridge including the nets, hotlines, and things like that. The bottom line is, it’s another reason to accelerate the replacement of this bridge,” Cardin told TheBayNet.com. “It’s not just its height, but the way it’s designed. There are different things you can do today that can help with suicide prevention.”
With the added funding and pressure that Maryland lawmakers are pushing, we will have a new and safer bridge in the future.
“This bridge is unsafe, it’s not unsafe when you’re the single driver going across it, it’s unsafe when the demands that are put on it particularly if we had an emergency. God forbid if we had a catastrophe at Calvert Cliffs and we had to evacuate,” Hoyer said. “Also, if there’s an accident on that bridge, because of the single lane. We’ve also had tragedies on this bridge, so it is incumbent upon all of us that we join together as partners to make sure that we invest in making this bridge safe… we want to ultimately achieve a bridge that is at least a four-lane bridge.”
Contact our news desk at news@thebaynet.com
Two of the three stooges.
Well, if they’ve succeeded in identifying $400 million over the next five years that’s enough to build a new bridge especially since we don’t need one the height of the current bridge. When is the last time the Navy brought a tall ship under? I’ve lived here 17 years and don’t believe it’s happened during that time. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. Let’s get this darn new bridge built!
Hummmm. Let’s see now. $40 Billion to Ukraine, nothing for America. When less than $1 Billion would replace that bridge. Hoyer is such a punk.
$1.2 TRILLION infrastructure bill signed into law last November.
And it went right into politicians pockets, what’s your point?
I made a point, you didn’t. Come back when and if you can come up with something relevant.
If you don’t think politicians steal money you ain’t got the common sense of a hard crab
Nothing but a photo op. $peny is a joke
That project was scrapped almost 20 years ago, there’s nothing wrong with the bridge, it doesn’t cause the back ups, tons of studies and evaluations were done on that bridge, the problem is the 235 intersection traffic light at rt4 and on the Calvert side it’s the immediate exit off the bridge onto hg truman road and the immediate entrance onto the bridge
The cost to replace the bridge was astronomical because of the property that had to be purchased on both the Calvert and st Mary’s sides to make it a 4 lane highway
There is something wrong with bridge there is no room for error, the bridge has no shoulder so everytime there is an accident traffic is backed up for hours.
Ok tell your sob story to state highway, they ain’t gonna replace that bridge
If they manage to get this done, I will be thankful to all of them, Democrats and Republicans alike!
Don’t hold your breath
“Over the past year, we’ve also seen a significant rise in suicide attempts on the Thomas Johnson bridge.”
I wonder why there were so many suicides/attempts over the last year??
Let’s see:
Covid Lockdowns
Government Overreach
Mask Mandates
Vaccine Mandates that destroyed jobs/families
Bizarro-World govt policies (right is wrong and now wrong is right)
Outrageous inflation destroying the family income
Unchecked borders and third-worlders slowly turning our country into the crap-holes the thirdworlders just left
Who is the President again?
Hey, can you remember any of this while Trump was in office?
Neither do I.
Yeah yeah…..I know. Trump was the worst President blah blah blah. But you can’t really tell us why?
2000 Mules!!
How many different ids are you using on this site No Clue?
As many as you do. Why do you ask, Clown Head?
No couth!! What a load of crap you are!!
BTW…6 of the items you noted happened during the Trump Administration.
A new bridge is long overdue. Every time we return to St. Mary’s County we hold our breath when we reach the intersection of Rt. 4 and Rt. 235 fearing a big traic backup because of a wreck on the bridge.
It’s never gonna happen, that project was scrapped almost 20 years ago
I knew a young woman who was killed in a head-on collision on that bridge in the 1980s.
The narrowness of the bridged might have slowed emergency response too (I’m not sure about that but I wonder).
A drunk driver crashed into her car. There were so many drunks driving everywhere back them.
One of them argued with me once in SMC that driving while drunk was “no problem.” He was a zombie-like revolting person.
The girl that died used to say hello to me– we were both students at St. Mary’s College. Everyone said she was the nicest young lady.
“Anonymous says: May 25, 2022 at 6:39 am If you don’t think politicians steal money you ain’t got the common sense of a hard crab” You still have not made a relevant point.
I see you turned me in again, imagine that you wimp