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The
St.
Augustine
Record Port
Authority
chairman
says
City
Commision
should
replace
Bridge
of
Lions
ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- In 1999, the St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District passed a measure supporting a $30.65 million Bridge of Lions rehabilitation project. But on Tuesday, board Chairman David Ponce said the Port Authority should press for a new bridge. Ponce, who voted against the July 1999 resolution, now wants his fellow board members to pass a new resolution at their March 19 meeting asking St. Augustine's city commissioners to join the authority in lobbying the state Department of Transportation for a new bridge. "The DOT thinks this is settled and a done deal," Ponce said. "But it's not a done deal yet. As a Port Authority, we should be responsible for the safety of the people in this community." He said 95 percent of the existing bridge will be replaced, with only 5 percent of the original 1927 bridge left. "We have an obligation to at least make a recommendation to the appropriate people," Ponce said. He wanted the new resolution to be sent to the state Department of Transportation and St. Johns County Commission, as well as the city of St. Augustine, he said. "I'm not one to tear down history. My family, one of the oldest in the United States, is history," Ponce said. Board members Jerry Dixon and Jack McGuinness were absent Tuesday, leaving Ponce with barely a quorum. Board member Barry Benjamin agreed with Ponce, but board member Richard Gleeson said he supported the current rehabilitation plan. "I'd like to look at the information (Ponce presented), but I would lean toward keeping the bridge," Gleeson said. Ponce may have trouble getting that resolution passed: In 1999, both McGuinness and Dixon voted to support the rehabilitation option. Members of the Citizens for a Safe New Bridge have recently continued to lobby the DOT for two traffic lanes with two breakdown lanes, a requirement which would mean a wider roadbed. DOT officials, however, have said that the process is moving along and without significant new information, would continue to do so. They expect design drawings to be completed by next year, with bids issued in March 2004 and construction begun by August 2004. Fred Halback of St. Augustine, public information officer for the rehabilitation design team, said Wednesday that the rehabilitated bridge will meet DOT's safety standards. "The bridge is a critical and important link with Anastasia Island, an evacuation route and a historical landmark that's on the National Register of Historic Places," Halback said. "This rehabilitation will give the bridge 50 more years of life." He said people ask him the same question often: "Why don't we build a new bridge to look like the old one?" He said the state requires new bridges to be constructed to all new standards: wider spans, wider lanes and breakdown lanes. "We can't make a new one look like the old one. Standards are different today," he said. According to St. Augustine Mayor Mark Alexander, the bridge issue has been voted on three times by the City Commission: Twice it supported a new bridge and once the old one. "I've always favored a new bridge, but my assumption is that (the process) is over. It's not being decided here locally," he said. "I sat through this three times. I don't care to do it a fourth." |