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One last hurrah for bridge
After 66 years of getting motorists across Boca Ciega Bay, the Causeway Bridge will shut down Tuesday with ceremony.
By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published January 1, 2006
Drivers already have been inconvenienced by the construction. The bridge has been closed one or two days a week for the past several months to allow crews to pour concrete and install some of the 93-foot, 26-ton concrete beams supporting the new structure.
The two southernmost lanes of the bridge are expected to open in 2007. Without the tolls, the city is bracing for the loss of about $1-million in annual income from the bridge. Most of that money had been used for maintenance of the structure.
But Maloof said she believes the opening of the new bridge will mean more commercial growth for the city.
"We are off to a whole different lifestyle now," she said. "There's not going to be a toll and once people realize they can just stream right out here I think it will increase our business opportunities."
[Last modified January 1, 2006, 00:48:38]
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