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Building a bridge between counties one brick at a time

The money from the sale of engraved bricks will be used to maintain the Friendship Trail Bridge.

By SHERRI DAY
Published March 18, 2005

GANDY - Brick by brick, workers are laying history on the Friendship Trail Bridge.

Last Friday, Pinellas County Parks Department workers installed the first pieces of Bricks Across the Bay, a fundraising project that pits Hillsborough County residents against their Pinellas County neighbors.

Both sides ultimately win if they can raise enough money to pay for the trail's maintenance costs.

In 1997, a group of Tampa Bay area residents and politicians launched a campaign to save the bridge from demolition when the new Gandy Bridge opened. The old bridge officially opened as a 2.6-mile recreation trail in December 1999.

The trail cost about $320,000 a year to maintain, said Frank Miller, executive director of the Friendship Trail Corporation.

Both Hillsborough and Pinellas county government officials agreed to help with upkeep. But they wouldn't completely fund the project, so in October the brick-sale program was born.

For $60, Bay area residents can purchase a single gray brick tile, complete with engraving. People who want to make larger donations can buy multiple bricks or purchase plaques and distance markers to line the bridge's railings.

Markers at the beginning of the bridge sell for $5,000. The Bailey Family Foundation, which helps students with college tuition, has purchased the first plaque at the bridge's Hillsborough County entrance, Miller said. Mile marker plaques cost $2,500, and quarter-mile plaques cost $1,500.

Plans call for the bricks and plaques to line railings on both sides of the bridge. Last week, workers laid 64 brick tiles at the base of the hand rails near the Hillsborough County entrance. Twenty-five bricks now line the Pinellas County entrance.

So far, the Friendship Trail Corporation has raised $15,000. In the month of February alone, the group raised $11,000, mostly from the sale of plaques, Miller said.

Despite early success, Miller recognizes that the project has a long way to go toward filling the community's financial commitment to take care of maintenance costs. Miller estimates that it will take 36,270 bricks to line the base of railings on both sides.

"I'm not discouraged," Miller said. "This is a start. We see this as an ongoing multiyear project."

When the first plaques arrive in a few weeks, Miller would like to hold an opening ceremony of sorts. He plans to invite brick and plaque purchasers, a move he hopes will spur more excitement about the program.

The guest list will likely include former County Commissioner Jan Platt, who championed the campaign to save the bridge. Her name adorns four bricks, Miller said.

State Rep. Faye Culp, R-57, the Port Tampa Women's Club, the Ballast Point Neighborhood Association and the Tampa Greenways and Trails Citizens Advisory Committee also purchased bricks.

Longtime Tampa resident Louise Ferguson bought 15 bricks for her family, Miller said. Ferguson recalls being at the Gandy Bridge when it opened in the 1920s and riding her horse across the bridge to Indian Rocks Beach.

David Jones, president of the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce, also immortalized the names of his family on a brick.

"The bridge needs money and this is a good way for the community to come behind it and give just a little piece to help it along," Jones said.

In the coming months, Miller plans to increase fundraising efforts. He's thinking about putting solicitation brochures in residents' utility bills.

He also plans to run public service announcements on local television stations and host fundraising events.

Miller said officials from both counties are lobbying the state to donate some maintenance services.

Despite patrons' enthusiasm and good intentions, the brick fundraising project is seemingly unending. Do the math.

Even if Miller sells enough plaques and bricks to line both of the bridge's rails, he will only raise about $1.5 million. With the bridge's hefty maintenance cost, that money would run out in about five years.

Miller has a plan for that too.

"There's room for three rows of bricks," he said.

Sherri Day can be reached at 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 17, 2005, 08:41:04]