bay bridge

July 1 last year (2010) the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge saw a pair of radical changes in the toll structure: (1) a $4.00 to $6.00 increase in the peakhours' toll rate for cars while the offpeak toll remained the same (2) a $2.50 toll on previously free carpool vehicles (HOV3) in peakhours.

A Baltimore lawyer who represents the family of a John Short who died last August 10 when his tractor trailer effortlessly pushed through the parapet wall and plunged off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is likely to sue the bridge operator Maryland Transportation (Toll) Authority (MDTA) for negligence. Attorney Keith Franz says the bridge may meet 1950s standards, but it isn't maintained and operated according to contemporary standards.

Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) toll operators of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge say they have to close a lane on the damaged southern span 24/7 for two to three weeks because they need to make urgent repairs to the southern parapet of the southern span. This at the height of the summer travel season on a bridge that constitutes a bottleneck even with all five lanes in operation. (UPDATE: the closures could go on for ten weeks it is now being said. See bottom.)

San Fran Bay Bridge

New East Span — total $1.5 billion