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By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published December 31, 2006

This time last year residents were mapping new routes to the mainland in anticipation of months without their bridge.

They endured 158 days of long detours through Madeira Beach and St. Pete Beach until the June 10 opening of the first half of the Treasure Island Causeway.

The $50-million bridge opened with a parade of antique cars representing each decade since the original span opened in 1939. The festivities included coffee and "no-toll house" chocolate chip cookies to commemorate the new, toll-free structure.

Construction will continue through 2007 while the two southern lanes of the bridge are completed. The bridge is on schedule to open completely in the fall.

Contractors recently opened a 10-foot recreational path alongside the bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists. On Dec. 10, crowds of residents and guests lined the path to watch the annual lighted boat parade for the first time from the new bridge.

The bridge, funded mostly through a federal grant, uses touch-screen, NASA-like technology to open and close.

The five-level structure begins 15 feet beneath Boca Ciega Bay and ends at the bridge tender's tower, where the view of downtown includes the matching clock tower. The bridge design features the copper roof, sage green hues and same sea-themed art panels and tropical elements as the tower and other recently constructed city buildings.

Designed to last 75 years, the new drawbridge is 21 feet above the mean high water line, compared to the 5 feet that its predecessor sat above the water.

Already, city transportation officials report a two-thirds reduction in the number of bridge openings each day.

The bridge is still being closed periodically while concrete for the support piers is poured. The daylong closures could become more frequent as the piers are completed, according to city spokesman Jeff Jensen.

"We are at a point now where the piers are really starting to go up fast," he said.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 22:21:32]