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When motorists drive across a bridge, they do so trusting that the people who built it knew what they were doing and that the bridge is sound, no matter the weather conditions or the number of cars on the structure.
Will motorists who someday drive the new Memorial Causeway Bridge in Clearwater be able to feel secure in the safety and reliability of that span?
Most construction work on the bridge has been halted as the Florida Department of Transportation investigates a litany of problems with the state's new bridge linking the mainland and Clearwater Beach.
Trouble became evident in December 2002, when an 80-foot section of the bridge roadbed sank almost a foot and twisted so substantially that the bridge builder, PCL Civil Constructors Inc., had to use explosives to drop it and start over. Two months ago, with the bridge only months from completion, another section of roadbed sank 7 inches overnight. Within days, the public learned of another problem: Four concrete and steel columns supporting the tallest section of the bridge were cracked.
This week the Times reported that two more columns have cracks - six of 16 are damaged - and two columns were built 7.5 inches out of place because of a surveying error, forcing the contractor to modify the planned height of the roadbed. A letter from DOT to PCL also indicates that a change PCL made in the design of the bridge prior to the start of construction failed to account for certain stresses on the structure, leading to minor to severe cracking throughout the bridge. This before the span has carried any traffic or endured any wear and tear.
Such problems prompt this question: Does PCL know what it is doing when it comes to engineering and building a bridge? The Memorial Causeway Bridge is not the only problem-plagued PCL project. The company also built the recently opened John Ringling Causeway Bridge in Sarasota. Like the Memorial Causeway Bridge, it is beautiful. But DOT lists almost two pages of shortcomings with the company's work on the Ringling bridge, ranging from design miscalculations to failure to place quality control personnel on the bridge when pivotal work was done. That bridge also has cracks.
DOT so far is doing a good job of holding the contractor accountable for the Clearwater bridge problems. The agency shut down work on the bridge and rejected PCL's proposal to repair the most severely cracked column with epoxy. DOT engineers remain skeptical that the steel inside the cracked columns has not been damaged. They announced that they reserve the right to force PCL to tear down the span and start over.
The Memorial Causeway Bridge, the state's primary route to popular Clearwater Beach, must be strong enough to endure extremely heavy traffic loads. It must stand up to high winds from summer gullywashers, tropical storms and even hurricanes. Therefore, everything from the design of the bridge to the condition of the piers below the water line should be back on the table for reconsideration to ensure public safety and public confidence in the structure. And given PCL's local record of lax oversight and inattention to detail, DOT also should consider whether it wants this contractor to complete the project.