Storm's fury causes harm along city's historic road
Parts of Bayshore Boulevard will close for sidewalk repairs to keep soil from washing out from under the road.
By JANET ZINK
Published August 27, 2004
[Times photo: Ken Helle]
Tampa Department of Public Works employees Scott Brooks, left, and Altaf Bukhari check sections of damaged sidewalk along Bayshore Boulevard on Thursday just south of Euclid Avenue. Wednesday night's thunderstorms damaged or collapsed more than 500 feet of sidewalk and seawall. Related 10 News video: Bayshore Boulevard seawall damaged
TAMPA - Parts of historic Bayshore Boulevard will be closed indefinitely as city workers repair collapsed sidewalk and try to prevent further washout caused by Wednesday's heavy thunderstorms.
City workers removed 400 feet of damaged sidewalk Thursday and put a fabric liner along the sea wall to keep additional rain from washing away soil under the street.
"This is just a temporary repair so we don't lose the road," said Ernie Nelson, the city's transportation operations chief. "There's a lot of soil missing."
Bayshore Boulevard is a magnet for joggers, strollers, inline skaters and people watchers who frequent the 41/2-mile sidewalk along Hillsborough Bay. It also is a heavily traveled route to and from downtown Tampa.
Repairs could take several weeks and cost tens of thousands of dollars, said Tampa Public Works director Jack Morriss. Morriss said excess water in the ground pushed the sea wall out and swept the earth under the sidewalk into the bay.
Tampa Public Works Director Steve Daignault said the damage indicates other parts of the seawall also might be vulnerable in a heavy rain.
His department is examining a drainage system in the seawall that's supposed to prevent water pressure from building up.
Becky Feeney, 33, walking down Bayshore for her regular 2-mile jaunt, stopped to watch as the workers raced to finish their task before another possible storm moved through.
"It's just amazing to me," she said. "Just the amount of damage with the storm we had, trying to imagine what the hurricane would have done compared to this."
Wednesday night's storm dumped as much as 4 inches of rain in downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Several businesses in Ybor City also were flooded.
"It was above my ankles inside," said Deli Plus manager Sammy Jalal.
City officials say they received numerous calls from angry residents Thursday.
"The people who got flooded or were inconvenienced or whose cars stalled are calling, understandably," said Mike Salmon, director of the city's stormwater department.
For some people, the downpour and resulting floods underscored the need to fund upgrades to the city's stormwater system.
"A flat fee of $5 a month is needed and would not be much of a hardship," South Tampa resident Ellie Montague told the City Council at a public hearing Thursday night to finalize this year's stormwater tax.
The fee, now in its second year, runs about $12 for most Tampa residents.
"After the storm of last night it's obvious something must be done."
It's possible the tax will be increased in 2006, said Daignault of Public Works, noting that some people in Pinellas County pay more than $100 a year in stormwater fees.
City officials estimate that it will cost more than $800-million to get the stormwater system up to par. That's money the city doesn't have.
The $1.9-million raised each year by stormwater fees in Tampa will go to maintenance of the existing stormwater system and studies to determine what major upgrades will cost and how high fees should be to cover them.
"You've got to walk before you run," Daignault said.
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