Evening star., 1952-08-21
Severn Bridge
Lacks Roads
For Approach
Spun Almost Ready
For Cars, but There's
No Way to Get to 1t
By Cherries A. McAleer

near AnndpOl1S, soon Will De
ready. but there's no way to get
to it.
The structure, designed to give
District area motorists a direct
route to the new Chesapeake Bay
Bridge, should be completed by
December.
But 1t will take about two more
years to finish the approaches.
Until then the bridge will have
to sit idle, unless the Maryland
State Roads Commission can de-
wise some means of getting traf-
fic across.
Commission officials say that's
possible. on temporary basis, by
next spring. The big problem is
how.
It's planned eventually to have
o dual highway at both ends of
the bridge, complete with inter-
changes. overpasses and three
level roads.
Substitute Plans Explored.
Meanwhile, the commission is
exploring the feasibility of provid-
ing temporary approaches by re-
routing existing roads. The
agency is confident this can be
done, but it comedies it has no
specific plan in mind just now.
The two approach sites are
nothing but mass of woods. The
State Roads Commission still
hasn't even let contracts.
The new bridge, located little
more than q mile upstream from
the present two-lane structure ad-
jacent to the Naval Academy in
Annapolis. will serve as a bypass
of the Maryland capital. It will
be the new U. S. Route SO and
will lead directly to the Revell
highway, which carries traffic to
the Bay Bridge and Maryland's
Sandy Point State Park.
The bridge has been under con-
struction since March, 1850. It
will be a four-lane concrete struc-
ture for which no toll will be
charged. There also will be no
draw bridge to delay traffic. At
the bridges center there will be
an 80-foot clearance.
SIS Million Project.
The bridge is part Of a nearly
SIS million project. The rest will
be spent for completion of the
approaches.
The highway portion will be
done in four stages. Contracts for
all four are expected to be let by
the end of this year, with final
completion slated for the end of
the 1854 construction season.
Bids already have been adver-
tised Tor the first portion, which
will run from the existing Route
so. near Parole, to a distance
some three quarters Of a mile
nearer the bridge. 1t will include
an overpass over the present road
and a connection with Maryland
Route 2.
The overpass, in turn, will Join
the first section with a project
already started. The latter is a
10-n1ile dual highway, which runs
from U. S. Route 301 (Crain high
way) to Parole-a project for
which most of the grading has
been completed. including inter-
changes at Route 301. Eventually,
this highway will be extended
westward to Washington to con-
stitute the new Annapolis Freeway.
The second portion of the south
ern bridge approach will begin
where the first one leaves off, at
Admiral drive and will continue
to the bridge. The distance is
nearly 2 miles. It includes an
interchange for a projected spur
road into Annapolis.
Three-Level Traffic.
Another interchange at the
junction Of the Revell highway
and the Ritchie highway and the
northern approach to the bridge
is the third project. It's at this
interchange where there will be
three-level traffic. From the in
terchange to the bridge, it's
slightly more than a half-mile.
The fourth section is dual
lane spur road into Annapolis.
Completion of the entire project
will be another link in the road
network allowing north-south mo-
torists to bypass major cities. It
will be possible for cars coming
from the south to miss Washing
ton completely by using the
Morgantown bridge across the
Potomac River and Route 301,
and then to avoid both Annapolis
and Baltimore by using the new
Severn River Bridge and the Bay
Bridge. Motorists then can head
north, using the new Delaware
River Bridge and the New Jersey
turnpike to avoid other large
cities.
Administration Delay.
The Annapolis bypass has been
In the mill since 1945. The
bridge approaches, according to
those close to the situation, might
have been under way sooner, had
it not been for a change in the
State administration in November,
1850. The planning started un-
der the Democrats. When the
Republicans took over, they de-
cided it could be done cheaper
and started looking for more eco
nomical ways.
The process used up considera-
BILE time, while the bridge con-
struction has continued.
The time lapse will become even
more apparent next December.
Hiberniun Officiul Honored