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Vintage bridges gradually decaying
By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- The county official said he didn't want to scare anybody. But his rust-ridden prop couldn't help but raise eyebrows. At a recent meeting with Tampa Homeowners, an Association of Neighborhoods, Scott Cottrell pulled a toaster-sized chunk of metal from a cardboard box and passed it around the room. The scrap had fallen off the Columbus Drive bridge, one of two Tampa bridges the county says need major repairs or replacement. The other is the Platt Street bridge. The bridges are "not going to fall down today, or tomorrow, or next year, or two years from now," said Cottrell, who manages the design and engineering section for county public works. "But five years from now, I might not be saying that." Although both bridges are within city limits, the county is responsible for major repairs because Platt Street and Columbus Drive are county-maintained roads. The county has begun to line up money for rehab or replacement. At this stage, they lean toward replacement, which means $18- to $21-million for the Platt Street bridge and $16- to $21.8-million for its Columbus Drive counterpart. The cost will likely go up if the county considers the historic nature of the bridges. And some neighborhoods, such as Riverside Heights and Old West Tampa, want the county to do just that. "Preserving our history is worth the money," said Sharon Keene, president of the Riverside Heights Civic Association. Both bridges were built in 1926. And it shows. The Platt Street bridge suffers from serious corrosion, a faulty electrical system, warning gates in need of repair "and on and on and on," Cottrell said. "It's hard to find parts for these puppies," he told THAN members. The Columbus Drive bridge is literally falling apart. Cottrell's rusty show-and-tell piece was a small part of a lateral brace, 10 to 15 feet long, that plopped into the Hillsborough River a few weeks ago. A boater noticed the piece missing and called authorities. In the past 20 years, the city -- responsible for minor repairs under an agreement with the county -- has spent $1-million on the Platt Street bridge and $1.4-million on the Columbus Drive bridge. But at this point, routine maintenance is "a Band-Aid," Cottrell said. "I can't turn back the deterioration," he said. "You sand blast a block of rust and you get air." There is no imminent danger, Cottrell said. The bridge is routinely inspected by city, county and state officials. Neither bridge carries a historic designation but both are eligible because of their age and design. The Columbus bridge's Mediterranean-style features go hand in hand with Riverside Heights' red brick streets and historic bungalows, Keene said. A modern bridge would be jarring, aesthetically and historically. "It wouldn't go with what our neighborhood is," she said. The county will spend $400,000 on each bridge to study how best to fix or replace them, Cottrell said. County officials expect the studies to begin by early fall and be completed by early 2005. A host of options will be considered, including new bridges that look like the old ones. -- Ron Matus can be reached at 226-3405 or matus@sptimes.com .
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