Woman released from hospital after accident that sent car plunging off Bay Bridge

A 22-year-old woman whose car was struck on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and sent into the waters below has been discharged from the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, a hospital spokeswoman said Saturday.

The woman, who has not been identified, suffered what was believed to be non-life threatening injuries Friday night when a tractor-trailer hit her car, sending it over the bridge railing and into water near the eastbound start of the span, transportation and fire officials said.

She was taken by helicopter to Shock Trauma on Friday, said Anne Arundel County Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Thompson.

The eastbound lanes of the bridge were re-opened to traffic at 1:10 a.m. Saturday, after Maryland Transportation Authority engineers inspected the bridge, said First Sgt. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the transportation authority.

Green said no charges have been filed by the transportation authority, which has jurisdiction over the authority's bridges, and that the investigation is ongoing. He said the woman's car was removed from the water on Saturday.

Kelly Melhem, a transportation authority spokeswoman, said the woman had just gotten on the bridge heading east when her car was struck by the tractor-trailer around 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Thompson said the car was forced over the railing and fell about 40 feet into the water. The car landed in about 6 to 8 feet of water, and the driver managed to get out of the vehicle and over to some nearby rocks, he said.

A boater who saw the accident headed there and sat with the woman until paramedics in a fire department boat arrived, Thompson said. They put her in a Stokes rescue basket and brought her to shore, where a helicopter took her to Shock Trauma, he said.

An SUV also was involved in the accident, Thompson said.

There had been "extensive delays" in both directions of the bridge on Friday night, Melhem said.

Sun reporter Lorraine Mirabella contributed to this story.