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TREASURE ISLAND - As expected, commissioners on Tuesday passed an emergency law prohibiting vehicles with more than two axles or four tires from crossing the Causeway Bridge.
The ordinance took effect immediately and probably will remain in place until a new bridge is built in 2006 or 2007.
The city's four-ton weight limit for vehicles crossing the drawbridge was included in the new law, although enforcement of the weight restriction primarily has been a judgment call, City Manager Chuck Coward said. The city will continue to post police officers at the western end of the bridge to turn around oversized or overweight vehicles.
Drivers in oversized vehicles could be fined $80 if they are caught crossing the bridge, Coward said.
Emergency measures went into place last week after engineers found severe cracks on the road surface of the 64-year-old bridge.
The city is in the process of designing a new bridge and is awaiting permits to begin construction on the first half in January 2005.