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Bridge opens to rejoicing, fanfare

After months of inconvenience, Treasure Island residents and business owners jump for joy as their lifeline is restored.

By MELANIE AVE
Published June 11, 2006

	[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
	Dolores Heinrich, left, and Carole Steinkruger walk under the balloon wreath on the Treasure Island Causeway Bridge just before the bridge was opened to car traffic on Saturday morning.

TREASURE ISLAND -- The mayor cut the ribbon, and the 2-million-pound star of the day made its eagerly awaited debut amid a flurry of red, white and blue balloons.

"Hallelujah!'' yelled Treasure Island resident Candy Wilson, 54, as Mayor Mary Maloof proclaimed Saturday a fabulous day.

An adoring crowd screamed, clapped and lifted their hands in the air to welcome the new Treasure Island Causeway Bridge, a 1.8-mile-long stretch of concrete and steel with NASA-like technology that connects the beaches to mainland St. Petersburg.

Bridge designers with E.C. Driver & Associates called it the most advanced drawbridge in the country.

"This is huge. You don't even know," said Melissa Bender, 21, an administrative assistant who lives in the Isle of Capri condominiums. She sipped her coffee and stared at the bridge like a new love.

"We've been counting down the days for this."

Since the bridge's closure in January, many Treasure Island residents and beachgoers have been forced to take longer, alternate routes north through Madeira Beach or south through St. Pete Beach, extending their commutes by 15 to 30 minutes. Many businesses saw the number of customers decline drastically during the closure.

"It's been a pain in the neck,'' Maloof said.

No more.

One lane in each direction opened on the northbound side. Workers will finish the southern lanes sometime in 2007.

The overall price tag? $67-million.

"This is like the Berlin Wall coming down," said 59-year-old Lois Bardoll, who lives right next to the bridge in Treasure Island.

The portable toilets used by the construction crew are finally gone. They stood for months just in front of her picturesque house on the water's edge.

"It has been the longest six months of my life,'' said Bardoll, who watched the construction project daily. "We heard it. We lived it.''

City dignitaries and bridge engineers held a brief ceremony on a dusty plot of land just east of the bridge Saturday morning. They served coffee and muffins, and handed out 100 "No Toll House'' cookies since the new bridge is free, as mandated by the use of $50-million in federal money. The 50-cent toll was abolished and the tollbooth torn down.

No one seemed to mind the half-finished bridge, the barricades or the blocked-off 10-foot-wide pedestrian walkway and bike path that won't be ready for a few months.

About 250 joyous men, women and children and dogs came to watch history unfold, the birth of a bridge that designers predict will be around for at least 100 years.

Under an unforgiving sun, for about an hour Saturday, nothing on Earth could compete for their attention.

With hurricane season only a week old, they now had a quicker evacuation route.

And bite your tongue if you call it just a bridge.

"It's a way of life for all of us,'' said Benjamin Hetrick, owner of Benjamin's Bokay florist shop. He handed out 500 pink, yellow and white roses to celebrate the end of bridge's closure, which cut his business in half during the construction.

After the speeches and ribbon cutting, a parade of antique cars was the first to cross the bridge. The city's restored 1927 firetruck honked like a walrus as it led the cars over, followed by a red convertible where Maloof and City Manager Ralph Stone waved like beauty queens.

The third vehicle, a 1939 Ford Deluxe Tudor, was driven by Hugh McCullough, 71. The car was identical to the first car to drive over the original bridge when it opened in 1939 at a cost of $1-million. By the time the old bridge was demolished to make way for the fancy new one, it was close to collapsing.

City public works director Don Hambidge, who oversaw the project by Johnson Brothers-Obayashi, stood by the bridge Saturday, smiling and shaking hands.

But the memory of the old bridge and its dire condition was planted in his mind.

"I'm so relieved," he told the celebrating crowd, "you wouldn't even believe it."

By 10 a.m., the Treasure Island Causeway was a smashing success, as dozens of cars streamed over.

"Let's enjoy the bridge!" yelled a man in a passing white truck.

Melanie Ave can be reached at (727) 893-8813 or mave@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 11, 2006, 05:21:40]