KENT ISLAND — At the height of traffic on Sunday, the Bay Bridge was backed up 15 miles.
Jim Moran, President of the Commissioners for Queen Anne's County sounds like a broken record and says the continued traffic dilemmas on Kent Island are as much fun as listening to one.
He's been talking about traffic problems affecting his eastern shore side of the bridge even before the construction began. Now, he has concerns about the business impact and the anger from these sustained 3 hour back ups on Kent Island.
"I received an email and pictures of people getting out of their cars and apparently throwing rocks at each other," Moran said. "I mean it gets that crazy when it takes two hours to go less than 10 miles."
William Colburn works at Chesapeake Outdoors on Kent Island and has seen the desperation of drivers. In the parking lot is a truck selling steamed crabs, a popular stop for locals.
"People visiting Big Earls Crabs were almost getting hit by cars cutting through the parking lot," Colburn said. "So we actually had to cut the parking lot off from people cutting through. It's dangerous what it is."
46-years-ago when the second Bay Bridge was built, one million cars traveled both ways across the Bay Bridge. In 2019, 27 million travel across the bridge every year.
The economic impact on businesses is real with some businesses having 50 to 80 percent reduction of business on Sundays.
"We're talking about no business, absolutely none. It's taken a dramatic tool on the weekends especially on Sundays," Pete Morris said. "We function on the general public and customer service. You can't have customer service if you don't have customers, it's plain and simple. It's become a disaster."
