Fuller Warren Bridge Replacement - Major Missed Opportunity for Jacksonville

[stjr]

At the same time though, you have an unobstructed view from the bridge as is right now, so it isn't a total loss.

Yes, if you are looking at the sky!    Just like most of the thousand plus miles on I-95.  As noted, for most, the view westward is 100% obstructed.  How much worse could it be?

By the way, I never heard of anyone crossing the Golden Gate or Brooklyn Bridges complaining their view was "obstructed".  Rather, the bridges dramatically "frame" the views they afford.  Further, with most modern designs, any "obstruction" would be minor.

[thelakelander]

Perhaps some focus should be put on the design of the new Matthews Bridge or preservation of the old steel through truss bridge?  Its the next one to be replaced and we're one of the only cities in the Southeastern US to be blessed to have multiple large truss bridges downtown.  As each bridge is replaced, its a unique feature of our community that will disappear.

[Charles Hunter]

So it was you gawking at the skyline - or trying to - that drifted over into my lane!!!  Watch the road!!  

Wonder how much more a signature bridge would have cost?  Guess Mayor Delaney should have asked Corrine to "deliver" more funds so a fancier bridge could have been built.

[tufsu1]

Perhaps some focus should be put on the design of the new Matthews Bridge or preservation of the old steel through truss bridge?  Its the next one to be replaced and we're one of the only cities in the Southeastern US to be blessed to have multiple large truss bridges downtown.  As each bridge is replaced, its a unique feature of our community that will disappear.

Good point Lake!

Our signature downtown bridge is the Main Street Bridge...and while I would like to have seen something special for the Acosta and I-95 bridges, I bet people would have brought up the increased cost argument....and we might have been stuck with a drawbridge on I-95 even longer.

[iluvolives]

I agree- I would have much rather seen the old Acosta bridge preserved.

As for the Fuller Warren, they replaced an ugly concrete draw bridge with a functional concrete bridge- atleast you don't get stuck in rush hour with the bridge up anymore.

[reednavy]

Also, imo people need to concentrate more on driving than worrying about their view of or from the bridge.

They probably took into account the Baptist Hospital helicopter landing just a couple hundred, if that, yards away from the bridge. I don't know, but the FW arguement seems tired now, we're stuck with it and can't do anything about it.

[stjr]

... I bet people would have brought up the increased cost argument....

On this basis, the Fuller Warren is a great representation of Jax.  Utilitarian, cheap, unimaginative, lacking vision, style, and grace.

The Golden Gate or Brooklyn Bridge may have cost a few dollars more (which by the way is trivial over the potential 100+ year life of the bridge), but what value do you put on the exposure and business the bridges have created for their respective cities?  Priceless, no doubt.  It's like the argument made about the Jaguars.

Cheap bridges, convention centers, hotels, mass transit options, public projects, transportation centers, airports, etc. .... cheap, cheap, cheap... it should be the new city motto.  In the end, these projects may actually cost more, both because of the opportunities lost and because we end up replacing them over shorter lives than if they were built better to stand the tests of time.

By the way, sometimes its not the money spent, its the quality of the effort.  Better design doesn't always cost more and sometimes might cost less (see the courthouse with a cheap design for a high price).  We just don't seem to make the effort or have the smarts to take advantage of such opportunities.

[tufsu1]

I'm fine with spending money for quality....I've just noticed that many people in Jax. aren't

[stjr]

Also, imo people need to concentrate more on driving than worrying about their view of or from the bridge.

Many crossing the bridge are not drivers, they are passengers who are free to take in the view.  And, even alert drivers must have some peripheral vision that would pick up on the areas they drive through.  But, mostly, the bridge stands as a symbol of the City for those on the banks of the river, the boats that pass under it, the aircraft and high rise occupants that look down upon it, and for the endless photographic and video impressions made.

[Ocklawaha]

Not much left of the Veterans Memorial bridge in Palatka, just a few bronze statues, if you know where to look.

Well Palatka didn't get money to replace the glorious old Memorial Bridge, which was cut from the same mold as our Grand Avenue (in Ortega), or Bridge of the Lions, in St. Augustine. The "thing" is FDOT or USDOT peddled another Fuller Warren copy to Putnam County which prostituted its classic bridge on the alter of "new and improved." Thanks for nothing great war veterans, sucks to be you I guess... Or have they all died out now? Who cares today? They really didn't deserve a memorial taking pot shots across the French Countryside, at that damn little Austrian paper hanger.

The old Acosta was also preserved, or so we would be told back in 1984... Well where the hell is it today? Blubbb Blubbb Blubbb

Lastly we have the new Fuller Warren, which made me think, Palatka had its "Bridge of the War Veterans," St. Augustine has the "Bridge of the Lions," maybe we just need a sign that reflects our own City Leaders?

Anyone up for "Bridge of the Ass Holes?" THAT would make a hell of an arch!

OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

I think the Old Acosta Bridge became a reef, did it not?  Funny that it was supposedly so unstable, and yet when they used dynamite charges to crumble the counterweights, there it sat. . I Still have some pics of the Bridge , just before it came down,,, also some , somewhere of the Old Monticello Drug Co. Bldg ( the 666 building ) that came down to make way for the new ugly concrete Monster that replaced the Acosta.

[SightseerLounge]

Cheap bridges, convention centers, hotels, mass transit options, public projects, transportation centers, airports, etc. .... cheap, cheap, cheap... it should be the new city motto.  

But Jacksonville is the logistics center. Hahahahahaha!

[billy]

What is planned for the Matthews Bridge down the road?

[fieldafm]

I think the Old Acosta Bridge became a reef, did it not?  Funny that it was supposedly so unstable, and yet when they used dynamite charges to crumble the counterweights, there it sat. . I Still have some pics of the Bridge , just before it came down,,, also some , somewhere of the Old Monticello Drug Co. Bldg ( the 666 building ) that came down to make way for the new ugly concrete Monster that replaced the Acosta.

Heck yeah man!  I loved fishing off the old remnants of the bridge when a gentleman(I forgot who) was leading the effort to make it into a public pier.  Suprisingly I snatched a lot of redfish out there.  On top of that, it was a great promenade with some amazing views of the city.

To me, whatever happens to the Shipyards site.. it would be an absolute tragedy if the dock adjacent to the courthouse is not made into a public pier.

[tufsu1]

What is planned for the Matthews Bridge down the road?

no specific plans....a new bridge would likely cost over $300 million and is not funded