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Bridge board meeting draws 18 firms

The Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority met with 18 engineering firms on Wednesday to outline the details of their new bridge proposal, and to take the firms on a site evaluation.

Issues such as compliance with different building regulations, golf cart access on the south bridge and the possibility of lighting the causeway also came up in conversation.

A change in building specifications was a concern at last month’s bridge meeting for several board members, and when they were told that getting money from certain lenders might require them to adhere to Florida Department of Transportation standards they started to seriously look into it.

Until this point the bridge has been working more from American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials standards than from Florida Department of Transportation, as they are a private entity.

Cooper asked all the engineering firm representatives to make sure they pointed out any points in the bridge’s proposed request for proposal that did not comply with FDOT standards.

“Because of possible funding issues, we ask that you let us know if there are any differences,” said Jim Cooper, the executive director of the bridge authority.

When Cooper was asked by one of the representatives about a walkway on the south bridge, he said they were looking at pedestrian access only.

“We are not building this sidewalk for golf carts,” he said. “Though I think a 5-foot sidewalk would work for golf carts, too.”

Cooper said he was under the belief that most residents of Boca Grande North and their neighbors on Cole Island were not as concerned for golf cart usage.

“You’re darn right they are,” argued board member Thor Johnson.

Cooper said he didn’t expect any problems would arise from allowing golf carts to use the sidewalk, but if they did find out that using the carts would damage the sidewalk, they would have to place a post in the center so they couldn’t cross.

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” he said. “We just want to do the most economical thing in this situation, and if it turns out it will cost more money we can approach the people of Cole Island and Boca Grande North and see if they want to provide the income.”

Cooper’s thoughts are that the walkway will be cantilevered to the side of the bridge, but said they were allowing the experts to advise them of the best way to handle it.

As far as bridge lighting is concerned, when one representative questioned whether the bridge authority were going to be adding lights to their proposed bridges Cooper said they would consider it.

“If AASHTO and FDOT say that’s what we need, that’s what we’ll do,” Cooper said. “We would definitely address it as an option.”

Cooper did stress that the public had expressed concerns about the new bridges not being aesthetically the same.

“These bridges are part of the community, and the community wants them to be simplistic and minimalistic,” he said. “We will be holding at least two public workshops, because we have a very active community here and they will most definitely be involved.”

Tentative dates in November or December of this year have been planned for those workshops, and Cooper told the members of the engineering firms present that they would need to be ready with very complete models by that time.

“If you submit just a rendering, have a cost for a model prepared,” he said. “We want people to understand exactly what it is that is being proposed, and we’ll be willing to pay to make sure that happens.”