page_title: Chesapeake Bay Bridge
section_title: Specifications and operations
hierarchical_section_title: Chesapeake Bay Bridge / Specifications and operations
caption_attribution_description: English: Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the Queen Anne's County side, Maryland, USA Français&#160;: Pont de la baie de Chesapeake depuis le comté de Queen Anne, Maryland, USA
context_page_description: The Chesapeake 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 miles, 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.
  The bridge is part of U.S. Route 50 and US 301, and serves as a vital link in both routes. As part of cross-country US 50, it connects the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area with Ocean City, Maryland, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and other coastal tourist resort destinations. As part of US 301, it serves as part of an alternative route for Interstate 95 travelers, between northern Delaware and the Washington, D.C., area.
context_section_description: With shore-to-shore lengths of 4.33 and 4.35 miles (6.97 and 7.00 km), the two spans of the bridge form the longest fixed water crossing in Maryland and ranked 102nd among the world's longest over-water structures. The bridge's western terminus is in Sandy Point State Park, located northeast of Annapolis in Anne Arundel County, and its eastern terminus is in Stevensville on Kent Island in Queen Anne's County.
caption: View of both spans from the Queen Anne's County side, in which the original 1952 span appears in front of the newer 1973 span.
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