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Bridge board to hold two meetings December 8

The public is invited to attend two meetings of the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the Boca Grande Community Center. The first meeting will be held to interview the four candidates who are vying for an open spot on the board, and the second will be held to review Request for Proposal options for the south fixed bridge.

According to Jim Cooper, executive director of the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority, the four candidates who will be interviewing for the advisory position on the board are Julius Frager, Dick Hayes and Peter Strong and James Martin.

That meeting will be held at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of the Boca Grande Community Center.

The second meeting, scheduled for 2 p.m. in the same location, will be held to get public input on the specific details that will be included in a proposal to replace the south fixed bridge. According to the board, the south bridge is in the most need of repair and will be replaced first.

At the last GIBA meeting held on Wednesday, Nov. 18, more than 60 residents attended to find out what details were included in the bridge replacement proposals, and to see if the toll would be increased to pay for the project.

Most residents who gave their input at the meeting had one thought in common – the bridges should remain as much the same as possible.

The south fixed bridge has a special circumstance which has brought up discussion in regards to an increased shoulder width, as many of the residents of Cole Island cross the bridge on their golf carts. Jim Cooper, GIBA’s executive director, has offered an alternative of a standard “breakdown lane” width of approximately 4 feet, and if residents that utilize the bridge for golf cart travel want a path of their own they can pay for it.

By the end of the meeting the GIBA board determined they would postpone making any decision on the matter until they had more public input. After lengthy discussion, the board determined the engineering committee would meet one more time and discuss details concerning the RFP before voting on the matter. They will present their findings to the board in a special January meeting, the date of which has yet to be determined.