Bay Bridge

The first of the travel season's "go early, go late" advisories for the Bay Bridge is in effect this weekend as thousands of visitors head for Springfest 2012 in Ocean City . The Maryland Transportation Authority said motorists should avoid high traffic volume Thursday through Sunday by traveling to the annual spring block party during off-peak hours. If eastbound traffic conditions warrant it, the westbound span will operate with two-way traffic. The best times to travel this weekend are: Thursday before 2 p.m. and after 10 p.m.; Friday before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m.; Saturday before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m.; Sunday before 11 a.m. and after 10 p.m. Officials note that full westbound bridge closures, with two-way traffic on the eastbound span, are scheduled during overnight hours Thursday, Friday and Saturday to accommodate maintenance work.

If you're going down to Ocean City on Friday to enjoy a quiet off-season stay, you may notice something overhead. And it's not the steel beams of the Bay Bridge or the beautiful blue skies. Instead, it's likely to be a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter airlifting a new tower to the jetty at the Ocean City inlet, replacing the old tower that was destroyed by last summer's Hurricane Irene. The new tower will be used for marine navigational purposes. On Friday morning, construction of the new tower will begin. A Coast Guard helicopter will pick up the tower at the Ocean City Municipal Airport and transport it to the inlet that separates Ocean City from Assateague Island.

Tolls for multi-axle vehicles - those with more than two axles including trailers being towed - on the I-95 Tydings and Route 40 Hatem bridges will both increase and decrease effective at 12:01 a.m. Sunday when the next phase of the statewide toll increases takes effect. The multiple-axle vehicle tolls on the three Baltimore Harbor crossings - Harbor and Ft. McHenry tunnels and Francis Scott Key Bridge - and the Bay Bridge will increase across the board; however, that won't be the case with the two Susquehanna River bridges, where reductions will occur for 3-axle and 4-axle vehicles, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority, or MdTA, which operates the state's toll bridges and tunnels.

High winds have prevented Bay Bridge authorities from opening up an additional travel lane to eastbound traffic. Typically, during the evening rush hour one lane of the westbound span is dedicated to eastbound traffic unless winds make it unsafe for opposing traffic to travel in the same span. The two-way operations were ended shortly after 4 p.m. The Maryland Transportation Authority will continue to monitor winds speeds and open an additional eastbound lane if possible Wednesday evening.

When the Maryland Transportation Authority floated a package of toll increases that seemed staggering to many motorists - a jump from $2.50 to $8 on the Bay Bridge by 2013, for example - state officials insisted that the higher rates were necessary to service the bonds for all the bridges, roads and tunnels the agency manages, and to maintain, repair and replace those aging facilities. Last week, the agency preliminarily agreed to scale back the increase on the Bay Bridge, the Hatem Bridge between Cecil and Harford counties and the Gov. Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge in Southern Maryland.

The Chesapeake Bay looks like a dirty bathtub, its waters turned brown with mud and awash in pollution and floating debris, including uprooted trees, propane tanks, even a battered dining-room chair. Braving boat-damaging hazards, scientists are swarming over the bay to see if the massive stormwater runoff from Tropical Storm Lee last week is going to knock the troubled estuary for another loop, just as it was recovering from an especially rough summer. "It just doesn't look right," Jamie Strong, a biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said of the malted-milk hue of the water as he and state biologist Zofia Noe cruised north from the Bay Bridge on Wednesday to sample water conditions.

Responding to a public outcry, the Maryland Transportation Authority agreed Thursday to scale back a proposed toll hike on the Bay Bridge — one of several revisions to a hotly debated package of rate increases. The authority board reached a consensus on raising the bridge toll to $4 in November and $6 by 2013. Members had planned originally to raise the toll to $8 by 2013. Board members signaled approval of other toll changes around the state, and modifications intended to encourage motorists to use E-ZPass instead of cash.

David Lee Ferguson, a retired welder and pile driver operator, died Sept. 2 from complications after leg surgery at a hospice in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was 65. Mr. Ferguson was born in Baltimore and raised on Kramme Avenue in Brooklyn Park. He attended Brooklyn Park High School and the Community College of Baltimore. He served during the 1960s as a paratrooper with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Mr. Ferguson, who was a member of Boilermakers Local 906, worked as a welder and pile driver operator until about a decade ago, when he retired on a medical disability.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge has been closed to traffic as of 7:35 p.m., after high winds due to Hurricane Irene exceeded 55 mph, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. All other bridge and toll facilities are open, although there are wind restrictions on the Key, Nice, Hatem and Tydings bridges due to recorded wind speeds up to 39 mph, according to an announcement on the MdTA website. As a result, those driving house trailers, box trailers, motorcycles, vehicles with roof-mount racks containing cargo or any other vehicle that may be subject to high winds should use caution on those bridges, according to MdTA.