06/13/2007
Bridge to Ocean City spans the years
By Tom Range, Sr.
Planners of the Maryland State Highway Administration are considering alternatives to what might be done to the existing Route 50 bridge to make entry to and exit from Ocean City less of an irritant to the motorist. Accessibility of Ocean City from the mainland has been critical since the founding of the city, arbitrarily set as July 4, 1875 with the opening of the Atlantic Hotel. The town itself consisted of a handful of cottages and vacation residences used by vacationers for extended periods of time during the summer. The investors in properties on what is a barrier island desired day-trippers, visitors from Baltimore to make a ferry-railroad-ferry excursion, to be able to spend at least a few hours at the beach.
There existed a network of railroads crisscrossing Worcester County. In 1874, the Wicomico & Pokomoke Rail Road, the east-west line running from Salisbury to Berlin, was extended to the shore of Sinepuxent Bay, to connect with a ferryboat to bring the excursionist to Ocean City. Within four years of the railroad extension, a single-track trestle bridge was constructed crossing the bay. The eastern terminus of the railroad in Ocean City was at South Division Street.
Soon after completion, planks were laid on the crossties between the tracks to accommodate pedestrians and horse-drawn wheeled vehicles. The single-track right-of-way branched in two upon entering town at South Division Street. The northern spur terminated at Somerset Street and Baltimore Avenue, in front of the Atlantic Hotel. The southern spur terminated in front of the Ocean House Hotel. There was surface rail transportation along Baltimore Avenue as the single locomotive and cars maneuvered in town to make the trip back to the mainland.
The planking of the railroad bridge offered a bumpy ride to the wagon occupants since the planks did not abut each other. The discomfort was worth the convenience of being able to make the crossing without having to wait for a ferry. The fare to cross the bridge was 50 cents per wheel and a pedestrian counted as one wheel. By 1908 Worcester County negotiated a contract with the successor to the Wicomico and Pokomoke Rail Road to pay a flat $1,250 per year, in lieu of charging tolls, to permit alternating one-way vehicular traffic (now including automobiles) on the bridge.
This successor railroad line has been identified as the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Company (BC&A), which had its Eastern Shore terminal on Kent Island on the Chesapeake at Claiborne. It ran two express trains from Claiborne to Ocean City each day. The steam trains of the day burnt wood up until 1893, in which year the first coal burning locomotive was put into service. In recognition of the sooty ride, particularly in an open coach rail car, BC&A was said to stand for "black cinders and ashes" or "bugs, cinders and ashes." As shipping entering and leaving Sinepuxent Bay increased, the bridge had to accommodate high masted boats. The railroad bridge had a pivoting section installed mid-span that spun away from the right-of-way. After the boat had past between these sections, the pivoted portion would be returned to its original position restoring the right-of-way.
By 1918, the need for a vehicle only bridge was recognized. A two-lane span, one east bound and one west bound, was constructed. Known simply as the Sinepuxent Bay Bridge, it entered Ocean City at Worcester Street. The automobile had had to share travel with the train to and from Ocean City for close to 20 years. The horseless buggy, and the horse drawn buggies as well, now had their own roadway into town from the mainland. It was designated a State Road Bridge and brought Route 50 across the bay. A 20-mile per hour speed limit was imposed.
The year 1933 was a pivotal one for Ocean City. The devastating storm that produced the Inlet, the break in the barrier island that united the Sinepuxent Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, also caused the destruction of the railroad bridge. Since railroad traffic had become, by this period, a minor factor in the economy of Ocean City, the bridge was not replaced. The storm of 1933 also weakened the State Road Bridge to an extent that only one car could go across at a time. Planning for the existing vehicular bridge began immediately.
The current four-lane drawbridge carrying Route 50 across the bay was completed in 1942. It was named as a memorial to long-time Ocean City mayor Harry W. Kelley after his death in 1985. The mayor had been in office 15 years, and before his tenure as mayor he served as a member of the city council for 16 years. The bridge enters Ocean City at Caroline Street and Philadelphia Avenue. The earlier vehicular bridge was demolished upon the opening of the Route 50 bridge.
Even though the construction of the Route 90 bridge, which enters Ocean City at 62nd Street, eased the traffic backups at Route 50, the waits on weekends and especially when the drawbridge is raised, is a major inconvenience to both visitors and residents.
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Uploaded: 6/13/2007
