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For bridge, problems keep surfacing

Lining up roadway sections could cause further damage to the cracked concrete support columns, a state transportation official says.

CLEARWATER - Last summer, people noticed something funny about the new Memorial Causeway Bridge: From the ground, it was easy to see that two unfinished sections over the main channel didn't line up.

By a lot.

In fact, the piece to the east loomed about 3 feet higher than its neighbor to the west, prompting worried residents to call the St. Petersburg Times and write City Hall in July, warning that Clearwater would soon be the laughingstock of the nation.

At the time, city officials told the public not to worry: The bridge was designed to be flexible. Before the final section could be poured, engineers said, the edges would be brought in line with help from counterweights, then locked together with steel beams.

On Thursday, the experts conceded they're not so sure anymore.

Jim Moulton, director of transportation operations with the state Department of Transportation, told the City Council that unconnected sections in the bridge span nearest the existing road still have a gap of 8.5 inches. Because of cracks in the concrete support columns, it may not be possible to line up the roadway sections without causing further damage.

"That's definitely a concern," Moulton said.

In an hourlong presentation to the council, Moulton revealed this problem for the first time publicly as well as findings that more cracks are at the top of one of the columns supporting the tallest and widest span over Clearwater Harbor's main channel.

Meanwhile, divers are working to map more cracks that engineers suspect stretch underwater on the bridge's concrete support piers.

For the council, frustrated by construction blunders and a flawed redesign of the $69-million state bridge, Moulton's report was fresh reason for disappointment in a project that had long been planned as a showpiece.

"Wouldn't it make sense to take part of it down?" Mayor Brian Aungst asked.

Moulton said that move is still an option.

The DOT, which denied the contractor's first proposal to fix the cracked columns with grout and epoxy, is waiting for more information from PCL Civil Constructors, the Canadian firm building the bridge.

On Thursday, the DOT released a preliminary proposal from PCL to buttress the most severely cracked column with more steel and extra concrete surrounding about 15 feet of its base.

City Council member Bill Jonson questioned how that would affect aesthetics of the bridge, and Moulton assured him the contractor would make similar adjustments to the surrounding three columns, which are cracked but not as severely.

"They would definitely do it to all four," Moulton said.

Meanwhile, the DOT has hired three outside engineering experts to help review other repair strategies for more damage on other parts of the bridge.

Six of 16 concrete columns are cracked, and the DOT has said at least four may have to be demolished and rebuilt, along with the roadway above. In February, a section of the roadway fell 7 inches after temporary scaffolding buckled. Before they can settle on a fix, crews must finish buttressing the faulty scaffolding.

In December 2002, crews used explosives to demolish an 80-foot section of the bridge span after it fell a foot and twisted when another section of scaffolding failed.

This month, a DOT report showed that all spans have minor cracking, the result of a revamped engineering design that didn't account for high bending forces during construction.

Under terms of its contract with the state, PCL must pay for the cost of repairs.

On Thursday, Moulton assured the City Council that the DOT will insist that PCL deliver a durable and safe bridge. He declined to guess how it could be fixed or how long it might take.

"The public needs to be reassured that the department's going to do the right thing," Moulton said. "And when we know what that is, we're going to let them know."

- Jennifer Farrell can be reached at 445-4160 or farrell@sptimes.com