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Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: How long a wait for new Bayway Bridge?

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published August 22, 2007

Examining Tampa Bay bridges Aug. 3

This article presents the Florida Department of Transportation's ratings of 10 local bridges on a scale of 0 to 100, where a score below 50 would require repair or replacement. Three bridges scored below 50. Construction work is under way on the John's Pass Bridge (score: 39.4) and on the Belleair Causeway (score: 49.7), but no construction has been started on the Pinellas Bayway Bridge (score: 42.5).

In 1995 the Florida Department of Transportation, with the concurrence of the U.S. Coast Guard, recommended replacing the existing two-lane Pinellas Bayway drawbridge with a four-lane, fixed-span bridge with 65-foot clearance for boat traffic.

Local residents expressed concern about the impact on their communities, but St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, shortly after taking office, was able to resolve these concerns when the FDOT modified the design of the east bridge ramp.

It is now 2007, 12 years after the FDOT and the U.S. Coast Guard recommended replacement, but no action has been taken to date. There is no question that the existing two-lane drawbridge is a hazard to automobile, bicycle, pedestrian and boat traffic.

I hope that your article, which highlights the low rating of the Pinellas Bayway Bridge, will spur the responsible officials to take action on this long-standing problem.

Joseph A. Mahon, St. Petersburg

How crime crushes hope Aug. 11, editorial

Hit-run thieves costly

Bravo to the Times for featuring Richard Maynard's victimization and the community's response to his losses. But there is another crime rampant throughout the county that is not confined to poor neighborhoods. It's the hit-and-run driver who damages someone's vehicle in a parking lot or on the street and does not stop to leave any insurance or other information.

This has happened to me and others and has cost us and our insurance companies thousands of dollars. These crimes wind up costing innocent victims hundreds if not thousands of dollars in repairs. People who do this are thieves as surely as the lowlifes who stole from Maynard.

Ross Pavio, St. Petersburg

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[Last modified August 21, 2007, 21:15:37]