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Letter to the editor

Bayway repairs not on horizon

To get money to fix it, the state wants to double the toll to $1.

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published July 8, 2007

Early morning traffic heading south over Tierra Verde toll bridge after sunrise on Friday morning. The state is planning to tear down both drawbridges in the Bayway. The Terra Verde bridge is the only road that leads in and out of Terra Verde.
	[Martha Rial | Times]

After Hurricane Andrew ravaged South Florida, local and state officials pledged to rebuild the deteriorating Pinellas Bayway system, a key route in the county's evacuation plan.

But in 1995, at the request of the state Legislature and small- town officials, the Department of Transportation diverted $18.8-million from the Bayway maintenance fund to widen a popular beach thoroughfare.

That was then.

Today, the Pinellas Bayway remains unchanged, with the Transportation Department struggling to come up with enough money to pay for the growing number of repairs required to keep the aging roadway open.

Riddled with complications -- including the controversial design of the replacement bridges, increasing construction costs and a dearth of revenue -- the Pinellas Bayway reconstruction project is in worse shape today than nearly 15 years ago, when government officials first acknowledged the roadway needed a facelift.

The latest Transportation Department estimate puts the cost of replacing two drawbridges along the Bayway with modern high-span structures at about $178.2-million, far from the $48.8-million the department has set aside for the project.

The bridges in question include the toll bridge that leads to St. Pete Beach and a bridge to Tierra Verde, the only roadway connecting the island to the mainland.

To drum up revenue, department officials want to double the current tolls along the Bayway from 50 cents to $1 -- a move that requires the approval of the Legislature. It would be the first increase since the toll was created nearly 20 years ago.

The proposed increase has angered some residents, who argue the department has mismanaged the Bayway reconstruction project by allowing funds to be used for other roadways and not acting quickly enough to get started in the face of rising costs.

'Bridge is a danger'

Money from the Bayway maintenance fund was diverted to widen Blind Pass Road in 1995, at the request of officials in St. Pete Beach and members of the local delegation to the Legislature. Blind Pass Road is also an evacuation route.

Though the Blind Pass Road funding wouldn't make that much of a difference in closing the current financial gap, residents are upset because they were promised the toll would be used strictly for Bayway repairs.

"The bridge is a danger," said Connie Langhorst, a Tierra Verde resident. "We are running out of patience."

Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni said the state needs to be more creative and come up with other ways to pay for the work.

"The state has a lot of nerve saying they don't have the money," he said. "To ask people to pay increased tolls at a time when everyone is cutting back is ridiculous."

But tolls simply don't generate enough money to go around, said Kris Carson, a Transportation Department spokeswoman.

The department has collected $72-million since it began collecting tolls along the Bayway in 1985.

"People think it is hundreds of millions of dollars and it is not," Carson said.

Department and local officials say it is urgent that the state gets the money it needs soon so that they can start construction. Though the Bayway bridges are currently safe, they are gradually falling apart.

The bridges have suffered dozens of malfunctions in recent years. Since 2003, problems with the St. Pete Beach bridge have contributed to nearly 30 hours of traffic delays.

The Transportation Department will have to spend more than $40-million for repairs by 2012 if the bridges are not replaced, said Pepe Garcia, the department's district structures maintenance engineer.

"The department is doing its best to be proactive and not just waiting for the bridges to collapse to do something about it," Garcia said. "It takes time to finalize the plans and eventually get it built."

The bureaucracy of rebuilding the bridge has been paved with headaches.

Resident resistance

An initial proposal to replace a drawbridge leading to St. Pete Beach met resistance from residents who disliked the taller height of the proposed bridge, as well as others who feared environmental impacts.

When the department sought bids to replace the St. Pete Beach bridge in 2004, the one bid it received came in nearly $12-million over budget.

Steel and concrete costs have more than doubled since the department estimated the St. Pete Beach replacement bridge would cost $37-million, Carson said.

Considering the complexities of building a bridge, residents and lawmakers should give the department a break, said Brian Smith, executive director of the Pinellas Metropolitan Planning Organization, which makes recommendations to the department.

"It would be nice if this was all simple," he said. "But there isn't any magic pot of money you can go to."

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

178.2 Estimated cost in millions to replace Bayway drawbridges.

48.8 Amount in millions set aside for the project.

72 Amount in millions collected since it began charging tolls.

[Last modified July 7, 2007, 23:25:41]