25 Years Ago

Parallel Bay Bridge Slated To Open In Summer of 1972 – David H. Fisher, Chairman-Director of the Maryland State Roads Commission, said today that construction of the parallel Chesapeake Bay Bridge is on schedule and will be open to traffic by summer of 1972. In a talk before the Maryland Association of Engineers in Baltimore, Mr. Fisher said: “The target date for opening is the summer of 1972. “Will it open on time? The way things are proceeding now, I can give you a confident ‘yes’.” Mr. Fisher said the present structure reached its practical capacity of 4,600,000 vehicles per year in 1967 and last year the bridge carried a total of 5,303,708 vehicles. That, he said, is 150 per cent more than the 1,919,077 vehicles it carried during its first full year of operation, 1953. In his address, Mr. Fisher described the $78,000,00 parallel span which he said would be a reality today if construction had begun when first recommended by the State Roads Commission. The new bridge will be a three lane facility which, combined with the present structure, will give motorists 5 traffic lanes across the bay. “Present capacity of the bridge is approximately 1,500 vehicles per lane per hour, so without the one-way plan we could get only 7,500 vehicles across the bridge westbound during the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. peak on Sunday. “With the parallel span, we will be able to put nearly 30,000 across westbound during the 5-hour peak, if necessary.” Community Reporter, February 20, 1970.

50 Years Ago

O’Conor Signs Bill To Provide Care For Indigent Ill – MARYLAND FIRST STATE TO PUT SUCH RESPONSIBILITY ON STATE HEALTH DEPT.; $400,000 TO COUNTIES; STATE TAKES THE LEAD – Annapolis, February 12; In affixing his signature to the administration sponsored Medical Care Bill, thus enacting it into law, Governor Herbert R. O’Conor put Maryland at the head of all 48 States of the Union in the matter of State provision of medical care to those of its citizens unable to pay for this vital service. Maryland’s medical care proposals, which were formulated with the closesT cooperation between the medical profession and the State Health Department have received the most thorough consideration and widespread approval by medical authorities throughout the Country. As the Baltimore Morning Sun expressed it: “The virtue of the proposal lies in the fact that it endeavors to improve the existing system,
which has accomplished so much, rather than to destroy the whole structure and to attempt to erect something completely new and untried.” From a national magazine devoted to hospital problems has come the highest approval of Maryland’s efforts in this field. “It is in this way, viewing the problems and considering how to meet it,” the editorial said, “That the Free State of Maryland proposes to look after its own. It deserves the thanks of the entire hospital and medical fields for the sane and courageous example it now offers, in the face of the Federal threat. That example should be widely followed.” Democratic Advocate, February 2, 1945.

75 Years Ago

Carroll Co. to Issue $600,000 Bonds for Roads and Schools – A condition and not a theory confronts the people of Carroll county. To meet that condition a conference of representative citizens was held at the Court House in Westminster, last Saturday morning. The conference was called by the Board of County Commissioners, and to the conference were invited all the members of that board and its attorney, the members of the Board of Education, and its attorney, the county school superintendent, members of the legislature, members of Democratic and Republican State central committees, and county officials. The bad road conditions prevented the attendance of some who were invited, others were absent because of sickness. “It is the concensus of opinion of this conference thatthe legislature be asked to enact a law authorizing the county commissioners to pay for future permanent improvements in school buildings and roads by a bond issue,” which was adopted by a vote of fifteen ayes to three nays. Union Bridge Pilot, February 20, 1920.

100 Years Ago

The Great Storm – It is doubtful whether the oldest citizen of Carroll county can recall a winter storm equaling, in all respects, the great blizzard which swept over the hills and valleys of this
section of the State from Thursday night, 7th inst, until Sunday, the 10th. In low temperature, violence and duration combined it has had, as far as we are aware, no parallel in this locality. The weather all last week, except for a brief period on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, was very cold. On Thursday morning, with the mercury ranging at 10 ¡ to 12 ¡, snow commenced falling and continued during the day and night. The depth attained on a level cannot be accurately determined. There was no level. Between nightfall and midnight of Thursday the wind arose, first blowing moderately, but increasing every moment until it became a howling gale which piled the falling snow in great drifts, filling up the county roads and turnpikes, laying an embargo on railroad travel and cutting off all communication between town and country, and between farms and villages everywhere, except where telegraph and telephone wires extended. American Sentinel, February 16, 1895.