The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, officially named the William Preston Lane Jr Memorial Bridge, crosses the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, MD. Officially opened as one span with 2-way traffic in 1952, it replaced two ferries that connected the metro areas of Washington DC and Baltimore to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. A parallel northern span was opened in 1973 adding 3 more lanes. When the bridge was built it was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure at 4.35 miles long. It has more than 400 steel & concrete pilings and over 2 miles of rip-rap lined access roads creating an exceptional habitat for striped bass. Read More!