sentences:  Traffic on the bridge during rush hour can cause back-ups all the way back to the Route 235 intersection, and instances where there is an accident on the bridge itself can cause total gridlock.Secondly, the fear of more structural issues of the Thomas Johnson Bridge arising (such as the one in 1988), coupled with the apparent over-capacity use of the bridge on a daily basis, has caused some safety concerns about the bridge's stability.These fears have grown substantially in the wake of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 1, 2007.
  , a study to determine whether the bridge should be expanded or replaced is being debated by Maryland governmental officials.