| Patuxent River | 8 May 2009 |
That's Why It's Called a Floodplainby erik |
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Fred Tutman, the Patuxent Riverkeeper, asked me to come out to meet him to discuss some restoration options on the river near where Governor Bridge Road crosses the mighty Patuxent.
Not a problem, I thought, though the road through that area is one of my local sore spots. The bridge, which is perhaps 100' wide spans only the main channel of the river, and for the other 300' feet of the river valley, the road is at the floodplain elevation (or lower in some cases), leading to the road often being closed down after heavy rains.
As fortune would have it, I ended up pulling up to the bridge at the same time as the road crew from Anne Arundel County DPW, only to see this:
It's time for a multi-jurisdictional effort (Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, MDSHA) to do the right thing by the river and by the people living in the area: Cross the entire river valley with an elevated bridge, encourage flooding of the floodplain, and design infrastructure so that it enhances, rather than degrades the natural resource. Many people fish throughout this area, and one aspect of a re-designed crossing could/should certainly incorporate a way for those folks to safely enjoy fishing out of the way of traffic and up off the floodplain.
