http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-07-18/story/jacksonville-looks-spend-more-bridges-after-years-penny-pinching (http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-07-18/story/jacksonville-looks-spend-more-bridges-after-years-penny-pinching)
QuoteWhen a large section of downtown Jacksonville's Liberty Street crashed into the St. Johns River in the middle of the night last February, Chris Ricketson awoke to a shaking house and a roaring noise that sounded like an explosion.
No one was hurt, but the collapse damaged power lines and left Ricketson's nearby town home complex without electricity. He, along with the residents of the 19 other townhouses, were forced to leave and didn't return for nearly a month.
A gaping hole in the street still lingers just a block from the prominent downtown Hyatt hotel. The mishap also forced the closure of Coast Line Drive, impeding traffic and blocking an access point to the townhouses.
Ricketson said dealing with the immediate aftermath was frustrating and expensive. But he believes the closed roads now threaten his neighborhood's safety.
Paramedics responded to a medical call at the complex Monday. After watching the crew park nearly a block away because of the closed roads, Ricketson said he believes the response time could have been quicker if access to the complex wasn't blocked.
"I saw rescue having difficulty locating the property," Ricketson said. "It's life and safety. That's the essence of the issue."
While Florida's bridges are some of the best kept in the nation — thanks in part to the state's warm climate and transportation spending — the cost and impact to residents can be significant in the rare event that they fail.
SPENDING PUT OFF
City Hall spent little money on bridges and other crucial infrastructure in recent years, one of the hidden results of the economic recession and ballooning city pension payments.
The state helped by using federal money to replace some of the city's most impaired bridges. However, funding from the federal government will be reduced and pressure will be on the city to maintain the 188 bridges it owns.
City engineers say they need at least $3.5 million a year to maintain local bridges, and the backlog of projects has grown to at least $43.2 million. The city spent just $2.2 million on bridge maintenance during the last four years.
"Clearly bridges are just one of the things — but perhaps one of the more dangerous things — we've neglected maintenance on," said City Councilwoman Lori Boyer, who has suggested requiring the city to perform baseline amounts of maintenance on infrastructure each year.
Eighteen bridges in Jacksonville are categorized as "structurally deficient," which means they are in poor condition and need to be replaced or given major overhauls. The designation isn't necessarily an indicator of danger — any bridge that's open is considered safe.
"That doesn't mean it's not a problem," said Stephen Davis, a spokesman for Transportation for America, a Washington, D.C.-based policy group that advocates for infrastructure investment. "Lots of bridges run over water in Jacksonville. If one of those connections can't stay open, you may have trucks going another way. It's certainly an economic and quality of life issue when bridges have unscheduled work as opposed to scheduled work over time."
The Florida Department of Transportation owns six of the deficient bridges, and the city owns 12. The state is responsible for replacing the bridges it owns, and it also uses federal money to replace some of the city's deficient structures.
The state currently is replacing one of the city's deficient bridges, and five more are set to be replaced in the next five years at no cost to Jacksonville.
Future bridge replacements will be handled under a new state policy that limits federal money for bridge projects. Under the new program, federal funding will cover 75 percent of a project or $3.75 million, whichever is less. The city is responsible for covering the remaining costs.
LIBERTY STREET WAITS
Even with federal money available to replace some of the city's neediest bridges, others haven't qualified for the money and remained in disrepair.
Take Liberty Street for example.
The street has been closed since 2012 after another section of the underlying bridge collapsed. The incident happened when a 12-ton crane parked on the street to pressure wash a building, even though the bridge weight limit was 3 tons.
The city repaired the hole in the sidewalk, and the state set aside $2.6 million to replace the bridge supporting Liberty Street — as well as $3.6 million for the nearby Coast Line Drive — to help the city cover the then-estimated $37 million project.
A permanent fix never happened. The city didn't have the money to pay for the work, and the state removed its portion of the project from its long-term plan, according to an FDOT spokeswoman.
Jacksonville set aside $750,000 last year for an emergency repair, recognizing that there was an immediate public danger. The bridge fell into the river before work could begin.
The collapse immediately closed Liberty Street and a portion of Coast Line Drive, which runs between the river and the downtown Hyatt hotel. Months later, state inspectors restricted an additional section of Coast Line Drive to one-way traffic and set a 3-ton weight limit, hindering an intersection used by the hotel.
Mayor Lenny Curry said re-opening the roads will be a top priority, especially the intersection that runs in front of the hotel.
Terrence Rodda, another resident of the townhouse complex, said he wishes there was more urgency to replace Liberty Street and improve access to his neighborhood, especially because the street has been closed for years.
"It's an upscale community. A lot of tax dollars come from us, and it doesn't seem like a lot is getting done," Rodda said. "If Liberty Street was taken care of, maybe we wouldn't have this second situation. Three years for anything, in my book, is too long."
Tom Francis, a spokesman for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, said the closure is an obstacle and inconvenience, but the department is aware that it exists and is prepared to respond to incidents at the complex.
Francis couldn't provide details about the emergency call made from the complex Monday. Records show that firefighters arrived at the complex two minutes after receiving the call and reported the patient's status condition to dispatchers four minutes later.
With the limit on federal money for local bridge replacement, city engineers expect they will need to spend more money in the future.
This year, the city approved $1.9 million to repair or replace three local bridges.
Curry's proposed budget next year includes a $5 million project for Coast Line Drive and Liberty Street. The total cost of the project is expected to be $65 million. If the city provides a temporary fix to open Coast Line Drive, that could add even more money.
Curry's proposed budget includes $1.5 million next year for bridge rehabilitation. The five-year capital improvement plan also includes two bridge replacement projects that won't begin until at least 2018.
There are no specific projects for other bridges, including those bridges with outdated designs. The bridges don't suffer from structural defects but are no longer equipped to deal with current traffic conditions. The city typically pays to replace those bridges. Preliminary estimates from the state for some of the projects are $16.9 million.
City Council members are considering a plan to require the city to spend certain amounts of money on infrastructure maintenance, including bridge work. That requirement won't be in this year's budget, which means bridge spending could increase in the future.
Boyer, who helped craft that plan, said the council wanted to phase in those requirements over time rather than force them into this year's spending plan.
Boyer said the plan will force the city to perform more periodic maintenance that extends the life of bridges. She said while that's been lacking, she believes the city has adequately funded emergency bridge projects.
"What we weren't doing was perhaps a more regular periodic maintenance that kept things form getting to that phase," Boyer said.
The best thing about Lori Boyer is that she is NOT BILL BISHOP and with the new City Council, Bill is off picking daisies and Boyer is back at work. Boyer telling it like it is, black and white.