The incredible £152m bridge that's one of the world's scariest to drive across

A huge bridge is not for the fainthearted, with the £152m towering structure one of the scariest in the world to drive across.

This dual-span bridge, built in the American state of Maryland, may be very impressive to look at, but due to its low guardrails, absence of hard shoulders and frequency of high winds, it is classed as one of the scariest bridges to cross in the world. 

With a maximum total length of 6,484 metres for its eastbound bridge, the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge - informally known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - is a marvel of engineering. It was named for the 52nd Governor of Maryland, William Preston Lane Jr., who launched its construction in the late 1940s after decades of political indecision and public controversy.

It spans the Chesapeake Bay, connecting Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore with its urban and suburban Western Shore, running between Stevensville and Sandy Point State Park near the capital city of Annapolis. 

Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a vital part of Route 50 - a major east-west route that stretches over 3,000 miles from West Sacramento, California, to Ocean City on the Atlantic Coast. It also serves the major highway, US 301. 

It has a total of five lanes, two on the older bridge and three on the newer. Its total length on the eastbound bridge is 6,484 metres and 6,415.1 metres for the westbound. It also has a width and height of 8.5 metres and 107.9 metres for the eastbound and 11.6 and 115.5 for the westbound respectively. Its longest span is 488 metres.

The original span opened in 1952, after its construction was delayed by America’s involvement in World War Two. When it opened, it was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure and the third longest bridge in the world. 

The parallel span was added in 1973 to combat increased traffic volume. Both bridges were designed by J. E. Greiner Company, which later became a part of AECOM. Chesapeake Bay Bridge is said to have brought growth to the Eastern Shore communities, providing easier access to the Baltimore and Washington areas and allowing areas in southern Queen Anne's County to develop as commuter towns. 

It is often busy and congested with traffic, despite the building of the second span, particularly during peak hours and the summer. Its daily traffic is estimated to be about 61,000. Further expansion has been discussed since 2004, with a task force being formed to investigate the possibility of building a third span, with 11 of the 14 potential sites being rejected in 2020 according to the Washington Post. 

Chesapeake Bay Bridge is also described as one of the scariest bridges in the world, particularly due to its height, the narrowness of the spans - with no hard shoulders, low guardrails and the frequency of high winds in the area, according to Inside Edition and many others. There have been four occasions where the bridge has been completely closed due to weather related incidents.

These included during Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, Hurricane Irene in August 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. 

In August 2008, a tractor trailer was involved in a head-on collision near the west end and fell from the bridge. He died in the incident, which highlighted concerns that the bridge may not be structurally safe. 

Previously, transportation across the bridge was provided for nervous drivers, but this role is now fulfilled by private companies, according to USA Today in 2016. 

On June 24, 2024, traffic on both spans was suspended for nearly half an hour as the cargo ship MV Dali passed underneath, escorted by tugboats, on its journey from the Port of Baltimore after its collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, leading to that bridge’s collapse.