South Fort Myers Beach residents speak against bridge replacement
Lee County is undertaking the planning process to replace the Big Carlos Pass bridge, but residents are wary their quality of life will crumble.
The county held meetings last week with various condominium associations before presenting its current status in a to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council at its Monday meeting.
The bridge is 52 years old and is in need of replacement, according to the county staff, because bridges of its age were built in a time before civil engineering could calculate for a natural phenomenon called scour. Bridge scour is the removal of the sediments around the bridge pilings, which compromises the foundation of the bridge. Scott Gammon, project manager with the county, said the scour could result in the bridge’s demise during a severe storm, and current building standards would rebuild the bridge to withstand such issues. There are also cracking issues: the bridge is still safe, but small cracks could become larger and larger cracks, said Sean Donahoo, a consultant with AIM Engineering and Surveying. It also is not as wide and does not have bike lanes as current design standards have.
Currently the county is undertaking a PD&E study to look at environmental impacts, traffic county, existing land use and property information, and existing road conditions. The county approved undertaking the study, with a not-to-exceed cost of $2.3 million, in September.
Part of the study is collecting public comment and input, but after seeing the county already had three potential options for replacing the bridge, some residents did not feel the public comment section will impact the county’s ultimate decision.
“It was my feeling (the county) weren’t here to get information, they were here to tell us what’s going to happen to the bridge,” said George Repetti, an Island’s End Condominium Association board member.
The county showed several options which might come out of the study. Although the county is also investigating the option of not replacing the bridge, and just repairing the current structural problems, Gammon said he could “not comment on retro-fitting” the bridge because it was the earliest stages of the study.
But it wasn’t too early for the county to have other alternatives and rough renderings. One was basically the same as what exists, although wider, a 21-foot bridge with a drawbridge. This option would keep the bridge’s stop and end points on Estero Island and Lovers Key in the same place. Next was a mid-level of 45 feet, which might include a drawbridge, and a high level of 65 feet, which would not. For comparison, the Matanzas Pass Bridge on the north end of the island is also 65 feet tall. The medium and high level would extend the feet of the bridge out further onto Estero Boulevard – a possibility at which residents immediately balked.
“If it’s the high one, we’ll be able to shake hands with the drivers,” said Diane Thomas, another Island’s End resident.
Carol Taddeo, also of Island’s End, said she was was concerned that locals who fished off the bridge would lose that recreational and sustainable space.
“That bridge has so many fishermen, it’s local people that come,” she said. “That’s not possible from a high bridge.”
Council Member Tracey Gore echoed Repetti’s concern, asking county staff if it would “really the into account” what the town council or residents said about the bridge replacement plan.
Donahoo said public comment was very important.
The county’s preliminary renderings shows the feet of the bridge would extend into driveways and roads – the staff said the bridge would still be within the county’s right-of-way.
County staff said currently there was no state funding going into the bridge replacement; it would all be produced from county dollars. The bridge was in line for $1 million from the state, however Governor Rick Scott specifically vetoed the funding in June 2015. Staff plans to seek federal funding options.
The PD&E study is still underway, with a completion date not projected until summer 2018, although staff said the alternatives may be ready for another public presentation by this fall. When it is finished, the county will hold a public hearing on the preferred alternative. A website has been set up to provide residents with information and upcoming meetings, bigcarlosbridgeproject.com.
“I can’t state strongly enough how concerned I would be if design changes affected the quality of life,” Council Member Shamp said.