Are our bridges safe?
BY VICI PAPAJOHN Gulf Breeze News vici@gulfbreezenews.com

Hannah Bunning/Gulf Breeze News The Garcon Point Bridge was built in 1999 after three years of construction.

In the wake of the highly publicized devastation of a crumbling, Minneapolis interstate bridge that spanned the Mississippi, residents are questioning the safety of area bridges. Peninsular Gulf Breeze is dependent upon the Three Mile Bridge, the Garcon Point Bridge and the Bob Sikes Bridge for transport to the mainland and beaches. How safe are our area bridges? If cars can tumble like plastic toys from the Minnesota span and fall 60 feet into the Mississippi River, how safe are we? Can storm surge, like the Mississippi River, weaken local bridge foundations?

The answers to these questions are not readily available. Though the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is tasked with the responsibility of assessing the structural and functional integrity of Florida's bridges, the data is now controlled by the Homeland Security Administration.

"I understand that everyone wants to know about the bridges in their area," asserts Tommy Speights, FDOT public information officer, "but we have been instructed to forward all public records requests to counsel for the FDOT as a matter of Homeland Security."

Speights went on to assure that all FDOT maintained bridges are inspected every two years, and all local bridges have passed inspection.

Assistant City Manager Dave Szymanski says that the last time the Three Mile Bridge was rated, it was given a 73 percent sufficiency rating, "meaning that it was neither structurally nor functionally obsolete. A bridge is replaced once it receives a 50 percent sufficiency rating or less."

Szymanski added that the city has had difficulty receiving engineer's reports on the bridges, too. "We have not been able to get that report from them either since before Hurricane Ivan."

Speights would only assure that he knew of no scheduled or necessary repairs to area bridges. "Of course, we will be opening the new west-bound lanes of the I-10 bridge later this year. The East bound portion is already complete."

Garcon Point Bridge opened in 1999 uniting south Santa Rosa County with the north end and I-10. The bridge itself is about three miles in length.

The 34 year-old Bob Sikes Bridge from Gulf Breeze to Pensacola Beach is maintained by Escambia County. Every bridge in Florida, including city- and county-maintained bridges, is inspected at least every two years by the DOT.

The Pensacola Bay Bridge was completed in 1962, and was named the Phillip Dane Beall, Sr. Memorial Bridge. Today, the bridge is best known as the Three Mile Bridge. It was damaged in 1989 by barge traffic, and received extensive repairs before opening again