S.R. 16 Shands Bridge

[Timkin]

Gentlemen............the current Shands Bridge has a steel grating panel but it is not powered......there is no power running to it, there are no motors and there is no control station as in a regular drawbridge. What is there appears to be just a plain standard grate! At one time they may have planned to install a drawbridge but there is nothing there at this time. I have not been on the water underneath that section but have been over it many  times on two wheels........that is part of my western loop! No motor brackets,hinge points are anything, just plain concrete buttment!

If I am not mistaken..the current Shands Bridge was completed in the early 60s ...just before my time... (My father was one of the people who helped build it) I know there is a grate in the middle that was designed (in an emergency) to be removed,,but it is not a drawbridge..   
As to its safety...you won't get much of an arguement from me OTHER THAN...you should have seen the bridge IT REPLACED..... A wooden monster that crossed the river and ended in Orangedale on Rt 16..( Ock ....correct me if I am wrong here, but since I was born and raised in the area, I think I have my facts straight )

No question the bridge should be  replaced with a much taller one on the outside chance a ship might need to get through there.    I would love nothing more, than to  see the Former Navy Base reinstated and put back in to use...though I doubt it will happen.... seems the mentality in these parts is, if it makes sense to do, then for god's sake DO NOT DO IT !!!

[CS Foltz]

Timkin...........I agree! That bridge is narrow and has had one fatal accident that I know of! Not anytime in this decade I would guess.............gotta find the money for it and the traffic down it is not heavy enough to warrent it ....yet!

[Timkin]

I never knew of the fatal accident but there have been lots of them in my time, which involved that bridge.. No argument she needs to be replaced.. Although I wish a part of either end was spared for fishing.. I certainly think the bridge is structurally sound.

[CS Foltz]

I don't remember the exact date, but was last year or the year before that! The old wooden structure could have been saved just for that but since it ain't there anymore.........next best thing would be save this one just for that purpose, if and when a new bridge goes in! Besides, it would save money by not dismembering current bridge and funding could be applied to replacing what is there now! That concrete structure would last a long time with no vehicle traffic on her!

[Timkin]

The City of Green Cove Springs actually did overhaul completely..500 feet of the old Shands Pier.. the rest of it is crumbling away.... as a kid  I remember going shrimping off of that bridge and thinking ...geez how could two cars pass each other on this without hitting each other?

I presume they would either greatly enhance the current span or demo most of it.  If one of the goals is to create a passageway for ships , then the center part of the span would have to go .

[CS Foltz]

Waters are not deep enough for something that has a keel or deep draft. NFTPO had a route planned  through there for a "Water Taxi" to Jacksonville, but last meeting I attended did not have enough interest to make it happen! Other issues such as being able to navigate in low visibility and bad weather had a bearing!

[Timkin]

Just curious...how deep is the water in that channel??

[CS Foltz]

16' on an average and I believe that is at high tide.............fluctuates with the tides! That boat/ship repair yard in the Green Cove Springs Industrial park has to dredge upon occasion, but they are further up than the bridge and it get shallower further towards Palatka you go!

[CS Foltz]

You gotta remember that is not a navigable waterway! The Bridge itself prohibites large vessels and the Corp does not maintain any channel through there!

[Timkin]

I never knew that.   I just wondered how it was that the worlds largest Mothball fleet (at one time) resided at the Piers of the Lee Field Navy Base... I presume the channel going towards Jacksonville is much deeper.. But today....if the base were to return there (and I know that is not likely) Would some of the current spans in Jax and the Buckman prohibit Ship traffic?

[Ocklawaha]

Green Cove Springs, Clay County Port Authority


Palatka Port Comedy!


Headed to Sanford

CS, it is indeed a navigable waterway. Palatka and Sanford have very active river ports and the one in Palatka has a shipyard that has lost contracts because of that low bridge. The Army Corps of Engineers as well as the US Coast Guard are often as far up stream as Sanford (or Enterprise where fuel oil was delivered).  They maintain the channel depth and width as well as take care of the channel markers and beacons.

Current Active Cargo Ports include: Jacksonville, Green Cove Springs, Palatka, FPL, Sanford, Enterprise. There are several other small commercial fishing, or crabbing ports or harbors.

I live on 6 mile creek and often see the barges and even occasional small ships moving up river. Historically the only natural obstructions were a bar at Mayport, and another at Palatka. The former was tamed by the jetty's and the latter is a dredge chore.



As for the bridge, replaced in 1963 I believe, it's light years better then the old one which was a cross between a bridge and "The Manta" roller coaster.  I was a white knuckle ride for sure. The Western portion still stands and was used as a pier for years, but I think they have blocked it off now. The East portion stood until fairly recently when St. Johns County and the Water Mgmt District replaced it with a new state-of-the-art-pier.

The Navy Base was designed for 500 ships, mostly DD and DE classes. One needs to keep in mind our Pacific Fleet alone consisted of over 1,200 fighting ships at the end of WWII not to mention fleets in the other oceans of the world. At it's peak Green Cove berthed some 400 ships with another 50 at anchor in pods in the river. The Navy supposedly feared it being bottled up by an enemy and moved it to a more open location.


OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

It is such a shame that the decision to close the Navy Base there came to pass...  Green Cove has struggled ever since....

I obviously do not remember crossing the old bridge because the new was in place when I came into this world..but my Mother described it much as Ock did.  She says when hurricanes were in the area the water was literally up over the bridge.. I cannot imagine trying to cross that in a hurricane.