The Chesapeake Bay froze solid in 1977 when I was working at an oceanic research facility just south of the bridge on the western shore of the bay. My Volkswagen Bus had no heat and commuting from Arbutus to work was painful.
Before the first bridge was completed around 1952 we took a ferry from there to the eastern shore.
(Wikipedia article about Claiborne-Annapolis_Ferry_Company)