"Everyone has been watching and talking about how treacherous two-way traffic is," Lawan Thompson, 45, of Stevensville, said as she surveyed the scene. "I've lived here three years, and I hate to get stuck in two-way traffic."
Although it was too early for authorities to know whether the two-way traffic had contributed to the accident, a former chief of the Transportation Authority Police and a spokeswoman for AAA said that funneling traffic in both directions on a single span inherently carries more risks.
"Two-way traffic, whether on the east- or westbound span, is always very problematic and has the potential to be disastrous," said Gary McLhinney, who served as chief of the agency's police unit from 2003 until last year. No other vehicles have driven off the Bay Bridge in its history, he said.
Noting that motorists crossing the bay in either direction shared a single bridge for 21 years until the three-lane span opened in 1973, he added, "The mere fact that vehicles are bigger, wider and heavier these days makes two-way traffic potentially more dangerous."
Ragina Averella, a spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the crash - like others before it on the bridge - highlights the need for additional ways of crossing the Chesapeake Bay.
"The reality is, they've got to do maintenance to the bridge. They've got to do it sometime," she said. "We want our bridges to be safe. But there are certainly some safety concerns when there is two-way traffic. The majority of fatal crashes on the Bay Bridge have occurred when two-way traffic was in effect."
One of the worst accidents in the history of the 4.3-mile bridge occurred in May 2007. Three people were killed and five others injured in a seven-vehicle crash in two-way traffic on the westbound span after a trailer came loose from a Lincoln Navigator that was towing it.
That crash, according to archives of The Sun, appeared to be the third triple fatality in the history of the westbound span. All occurred while the three-lane bridge was accommodating two-way traffic.
"This is a tragic loss for the Mountaire family," said Roger Marino, a spokesman for Mountaire Farms, which has breeding, hatching and processing facilities in Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, and we'll assist the authorities in any way we can as they complete their investigation."
He said he did not know where the truck was coming from or whether the driver had delivered the load of packaged, processed chicken that refrigerated trucks ferry up and down the East Coast.
"Right now, this is just really something that is tragic for us, that we would lose somebody," Marino said.
john-john.williams@baltsun.com
jennifer.mcmenamin@baltsun.com
Sun reporters Brent Jones and Richard Irwin contributed to this article.
