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The
Florida
Times-Union Bridge
Backers
Ask
Questions
“Data
skewed?” In a new effort to save St. Augustine’s signature Bridge of Lions, preservationists are mounting an attack on information from the U.S. Coast Guard and the state Department of Transportation that shows how barge traffic is increasing along the Intracoastal Waterway. For more than a decade, the future of the aging bridge that is on the National Register of Historic Places has stirred a polarizing debate over history, safety, and navigation. That debate is heating up now that the state is moving toward a June 7 public hearing that could lead to a final decision this fall on whether to replace or restore the ornate bridge that crosses from the city’s historic downtown to Anastasia Island. Supporters of a new bridge say the bridge is dangerous to barge traffic and have rallied for a replica they say would last longer and be safer for both barge traffic and vehicular traffic. But, preservationists say that in a December report, the government grossly overstated the amount of barge traffic and petroleum cargo passing beneath the bridge to put the new-bridge option in a favorable light. T.J. Tremmel, an artist and part-time disaster damage evaluator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the barge issue is important because the Coast Guard is responsible for issuing a permit for bridges, and a restored Bridge of Lions would not meet the agency’s recommended horizontal clearance for boats. Tremmel researched barge traffic records and compiled a report criticizing the Coast Guard and the state. He used the same data as the government officials, who do not dispute the data's accuracy. “There is declining barge traffic, ” Tremmel said. “They just left out a lot of information.” In response, both the Coast Guard and the state said they are reviewing and updating their information, contained in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement designed to explore restoration and replacement options. “That’s one of the problems with this process,” said Bill Henderson, the state Department of Transportation's project manager for the bridge work. “Cost estimates get stale. Traffic estimates get stale.” But Tremmel said Coast Guard information in the draft report that could guide the final decision on the bridge could have contained updated material by the time the impact statement was released in December. “Their statements were highly erroneous,” he said. Coast Guard regulations recommend that the opening beneath bridges be at least 125 feet wide - to accommodate things like barge traffic. The current horizontal opening beneath the 71-year-old bridge is 76 feet. In a December 1997 letter to the state Department of Transportation, John Winslow, then chief of the Seventh Coast Guard District’s Bridge Section, said the agency was concerned that the state was considering a restoration that would not widen the boat opening. “Available records indicate there has been a 400 percent increase in cargo tonnage in the last eight years with a high percentage of the transits between Jacksonville and Miami involving fuel oils, ” Winslow wrote in the letter that is part of the impact statement. “The 76-foot horizontal clearance...with strong cross currents...create serious safety and environmental risks.” Tremmel said he went to the same records used by the Coast Guard and found that while barge traffic had increased more than 400 percent between 1987 and 1994, it decreased significantly after 1995, resulting in a decrease of 13 percent if data from 1990 through 1997 were used. “They left out the most current years,” Tremmel said. “There is the start of a decline and a pretty good one.” Tremmel said the Coast Guard also used barge statistics from Jacksonville to Miami rather than specific information that dealt with traffic only through the Bridge of Lions. Tremmel said his research showed that in 1996, 585,000 tons of cargo moved between Jacksonville and Miami, but that only 29,000 tons went under the St. Augustine Bridge. In the impact statement, the Department of Transportation notes that 85 percent of the total tonnage shipped along the Intracoastal Waterway is petroleum products. Tremmel said his research showed that in 1996 and 1997, no petroleum passed beneath the St. Augustine bridge. The transportation agency has already sent Tremmel’s comments to a consultant for an evaluation. “It waved no warning flags with us,” said Joel Glenn, environmental management engineer for the Department of Transportation in Lake City. “If there are errors of omission, then we need to know about that. We recognized there was some data that was stale.” Lt. j.g. Brian Hill, an attorney for the Coast Guard, had not seen Tremmel’s report but said the agency probably looked at the entire length of the waterway when compiling its report for good reason. “It probably makes sense that we would look at a worst-case scenario,” he said. “I’m sure it’s not an arbitrary decision.” Winslow, the former head of the Coast Guard’s bridge section, retired in February. His interim replacement, Walter Paskowsky, said the agency will review Tremmel’s comments. He said the Coast Guard would not make a decision on a construction permit until the state asks either to replace or restore the bridge. After the June public hearing, the state will allow an additional 30-day comment period then either make a decision or possibly allow another hearing, Glenn said. A final Environmental Impact Statement, due by the end of the year, will contain a recommendation, though the department expects to announce a decision before then. Henderson said the state has programmed $26 million in the agency's 2003-04 construction budget to either restore or replace the bridge. Bridge Facts With the exception of 8 a.m., noon and 5 p.m., St. Augustine's Bridge of Lions opens on the half hour between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. when vessels are waiting to pass. Here are some statistics on bridge operations: Number
of
cars
passing
over
the
bridge
daily:
20,000 |