The St. Augustine Record
Saturday, April 13, 1998

Bridge restoration option hits snag
By Brian L. Thompson
Staff Writer

New pieces of the puzzle concerning the future of the Bridge of Lions are continuing to fall into place.

The most recent come from the U.S. Coast Guard, which has made it clear that the horizontal clearance for waterway traffic should be widened - whether the bridge is restored or replaced.

That position, according to the Department of Transportation, has caused the agency to take another look at plans for restoration of the bridge.

Regional Planner Joe Stephenson said restoration of the structure is still an option, but DOT is now looking “more seriously” at a replacement.

“What it does is add a new factor to the thinking,” he said.

“It adds a new piece to the puzzle that changes what we’re looking at. It doesn’t change the whole picture or the process.”

“This doesn’t make restoration impossible,” he added. “But the test is we must restore the bridge unless it is not feasible or prudent to do so.”

A DOT bridge report released in December tended to favor restoration of the 70-year-old Bridge of Lions over a replacement bridge, which would resemble the old structure.

But the Coast Guard’s preliminary request for a wider clearance has prompted the DOT to begin looking into restoring the bridge while widening the maneuvering space for larger vessels.

A wider draw span, according to Stephenson, would require larger lift arms and the moving of support piers that would change the look of the bridge.

With the restoration, about 90 percent of the Bridge of Lions would have to be replaced. If the span must be widened and piers moved, the bridge would no longer retain the historic look DOT has been trying to preserve, he said.

“You get closer and closer to the replica and farther and farther from the historic restoration as you continue to make changes,” he said. “What it does is add a new factor to the thinking.”

John Winslow, manager of the bridge program for the Coast Guard in Miami, said his agency has reservations about the bridge’s current 76-foot horizontal clearance.

The Coast Guard’s standard width for bridges is 90 feet, and a new proposal might increase that width to 125 feet.

“Basically we have a major concern about the Bridge of Lions based on the number of times it’s been hit,” he said, noting the high number of incidents involving barges colliding with the bridge’s fender system.

The position of the Coast Guard, he said, is that it should be widened at least to 90 feet.

“We’re very anxious that the horizontal clearance be increased so it will not get struck in the future,” he said.

DOT plans to hold a public information meeting later in the summer to present the current plans and proposals.

That meeting date, however, has not been set. Neither has a date for a final decision on the bridge, Stephenson said.