Bayway Bridge

                                                                                                                                                              
The Current Bayway Bridge was completed in 1963. When closed, it has a vertical clearance of 25 feet. Replacement: The new bridge, after much debate, will be a high, fixed-span bridge with boat clearance of 65 feet. Cost: $35-million. Construction: will begin in September 2003 and should take about three years. "In 1998, the DOT chose to replace the aging Bayway with another drawbridge. A year later, after a traffic study showed congestion with a drawbridge would be worse than anticipated, Hartmann reversed his decision, opting for a 65-foot-high bridge that left Isla del Sol residents infuriated." They weren't the only ones who were infuriated! Most of the residents of Vina Del Mar, Belle Vista, and Don CeSar Place, who have grave concerns about the environmental impacts of the proposed bridge, are also infuriated!  What happened in 1998 to change the design from low-bridge to high-bridge? The answer: The gubernatorial election! In any event. there was no opportunity for public deliberation of the DOT decision reversal.  The below links reveal the deliberations resulting in the current approach. However, the current approach is being challenged by sailors and other groups who view the new bridge as detrimental to the environment and safe navigation of the waterways. This challenge is being made by The Beach Area Citizens Association. See the link Bayway Bridge Information! below!  The bottom line is that the DOT fixed-bridge decision will be rendered moot, at least for the indefinite future, if the challenge being mounted by the Beach Area Citizens Association is successful. Note: Ken Hartmann is the DOT secretary for the district that includes St. Petersburg. DOT Project Manager is Joe Hitterman. Construction of the new fixed bridge is scheduled to begin in September 2003!
Bayway Bridge Information! FDOT Fact Sheet
1 September 2004: Bayway bridge plans hung up on protest by only bidder

21-23 December 2003: SWFWMD approves FDOT Permit: Construction of Fixed Bayway Bridge with 65 foot clearance to begin in late 2004. Learn to live with it!! Think of all the positives? Should be more of a lee for boats moored on the North End of Vina Del Mar.

14 December 2003:  The next meeting is with SWFWMD. All parties are urged tp attend.
Dan Rothenberger reports that the FDOT has decided to stay with the Fixed High Bridge.
Administrative Hearing Ended. Judge will issue findings in about 4 weeks!
Legal Notice:  Text from 5 March 2003 St. Petersburg Times.  Shouldn't this have been done before the decision was made to proceed with the fixed bridge. Note that there are two key environmental questions that are answered "NO":  Outstanding Florida Water? NO  Aquatic Preserve? NO
Backup On Bayway: Neighborhood Times Section of St. Petersburg Times. 30 March 2003. Read this distorted article. It would have you believe that its just three people against the world: "Most drivers like the idea of a high fixed bridge. A few yacht owners-And the NAACP- don't"! "Work may be delayed for as much as a year"!
MPO Board votes for High Bridge on Bayway. 6-5 is not an overwhelming majority! How many of those voting pro really understand the environmental impact?
Design Public Workshop: BBBC Response to Citizens. October 2002.
       BBBC: Bayway Bridge Beautification Committee.
Detailed Design For Bayway Bridge! St. Petersburg Times April 2002.
A Bridge of Contention:  St. Petersburg Times April 2002.
   The Times Articles would have you believe that the dispute is between the citizens of St. Pete Beach and the citizens of St. Petersburg. In fact, sailors and others who care about the environment from St. Pete Beach are in consonance with the residents of Isla Del Sol, part of St. Petersburg. 
Bridge's 6-foot shift reopens old dispute. Times September 2001.
  A Bridge Too Close!
All sides united on higher, fixed span. ?? St. Petersburg Times April 2001.
 Isla Del Sol Residents On The Proposed New Bridge! Summer 2000.
DOT Ignored Calls For A Drawbridge! SP Times Letter to the Editor of June 2000. 
 This Environmentalist argues that the majority of SPB Citizens, in fact, favor a drawbridge! The author of this Letter to the Editor points out that there was no opportunity for public deliberation of the DOT decision reversal. 
 

    Left: Clearwater Pass Bridge Connecting Clearwater Beach and Sand Key. This bridge is approximately the same height of the proposed Bayway Bridge. How would you like to have this monster in your back yard? The big hotel owners (The ones with the money) don't mind. None of them live on Vina Del Mar, Belle Vista, Don CeSar Place, or Isla Del Sol!  Right:  The Sunshine Skyway. The new Bayway Bridge will be almost as wide as the Sunshine Skyway!
It is absolutely ludicrous to emplace a bridge almost as high as the Clearwater
Pass Bridge and as almost as wide as the Sunshine Skyway connecting two residential areas such as the residential areas of St. Pete Beach (Vina Del Mar, Bel Vista, and Don CeSar Place) and St. Petersburg (Isla Del Sol. A scale model of this was never presented to the public until after the 1998 election and the decision was made to reverse theLow-Bridge decision and go with the Fixed High Bridge. This Fait Accompli  was then presented to the public at a design workshop not as a choice but only as how to improve the aesthetics with something called the Bayway Bridge Beautification Committee! And we, the gullible public, are letting the slick politicians, sophomoric bureaucrats,  and pandering news media get away with it! After this white elephant is complete, we will all sit back and wonder how we let them get away with it? How stupid can we get?   

 We really won't know what our nightime white elephant looks like until construction is complete. I can hardly wait! We live on the Northern side of Vina Del Mar, close to the Western End of the bridge. Yet, we enjoy sitting outside and enjoying the sky at night with its quiet, mysterious stars, brooding planets, and whirling galaxies stretching forth into glorious infinity. What about our view of these with the proposed bridge? Will the lights from the new bridge, from the increased number of bridge fixtures as well as the flood lights for the bridge supports, result in a higher light intensity so as to obscure our night sky? The Clearwater Pass Bridge is not nearly as intrusive on residential areas as the new Bayway Bridge. The West end of our bridge passes in close proximity to Belle Vista and Vina Del Mar as well as having its terminus in Don CeSar Place. The East end of this monster has its terminus right amidst the Isla Del Sol Condominiums.   Can you blame them for being irate? Hell, I'm irate!

Below is a photo taken from our roof showing our backyard scene and my extrapolation of the Western End of the Fixed Bridge. I have used the engineering drawings of the new bridge that projects an elevation of 40 feet above Pier 8 and 20 feet above the present terminus of the existing bridge with a reference to the 65 foot mast of Hola Mala, Flagship of SailAway, Inc.
 

  Notes:
     BBBC: "We have received and reviewed a total of 106 comments from citizens who are interested in the project."
   Sam's comment which remains with no response:
   "Because of the boating traffic to the North of the Bridge, there will be increased silt, sand, and mud buildup in this channel, now narrower than the existing channel. . Furthermore, the construction will result in mud and silt buildup at the northern end of the Northwest Channel (Mud Key Channel). There should be plans for dredging these channels after construction is completed. There may be a need to provide for periodic dredging of the narrower North Channel and also the Northwest Channel as the dredging will cause silt and sand buildup here. I speak from experience as the Northwest Channel experienced considerable silting in after construction of the current Bayway Bridge Structure “C” (in 1963)." 
   The BBBC, evidently, did not place any importance to my comment.