1852                                       JOINT RESOLUTIONS

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be sent to the Governor, the
Maryland Secretary of the Department of Economic and Community
Development, 2525 Riva Road, Annapolis, and the Secretary of the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D. C.

Approved May 7, 1973.

No. 20
(House Joint Resolution 62)

House Joint Resolution requesting the Congress of the United States to take
appropriate legislative action, and for the Federal Executive Branch to promulgate
anew, regarding the opening upon a vessel signal of the Bush River Bridge in
Harford County.

WHEREAS, The Bush River Bridge near Aberdeen, Maryland, is presently
equipped to have more frequent openings, thereby increasing the boating and
recreational enjoyment of this public resource for all Marylanders; and

WHEREAS, The Secretary of Transportation, The Honorable John A. Volpe,
has recently ruled that to open the bridge so that water traffic can pass freely on
the Bush River would severely restrict and disrupt rail operations; and

WHEREAS, The Secretary of Transportation has apparently failed to note
testimony that the bridge can be open and shut to water traffic very quickly and
economically, or to realize that the serious deteriorated condition of the bridge
makes renovations mandatory; and

WHEREAS, The State of Maryland has never formally given authority to the
Penn Central Railroad or its predecessors to construct the bridge nor to install a
catenary system; and

WHEREAS, This General Assembly called upon the Secretary of
Transportation in the 1971 Session to require the opening of the bridge to vessels
at any time upon signal, yet today the bridge only opens twice daily and on a 24
hours notice on weekends; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Volpe's argument that frequent bridge openings would disrupt
rail service is put in doubt by the fact that service on the same line stops for bridge
openings at the Passaic River Bridge in New Jersey; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this General Assembly request the Congress of the United
States and the Executive Branch of our Federal Government to take appropriate
legislative action and promulgation of the needed regulations to provide for
opening upon signal of a vessel the Bush River Bridge; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to the Speaker of the House
of Representatives and the President of the Senate, The Capitol Building,
Washington, D. C. 20515; Senator J. Glenn Beall, Jr., and the Maryland
Congressional Delegation, The Capitol Building, Washington, D. C. 20515; The
Secretary of Transportation, The Honorable John A. Volpe and the Secretary of
Transportation Designate, The Honorable Claude S. Brinegar, at the Department
of Transportation, 5th and G Streets, N.E., Washington, D. C, and T. Leo
Sullivan, Esquire, 17 Courtland Street., West, Bel Air, Maryland 21014.