Engineering report on Friendship Trail Bridge delivered - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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This report was requested after an initial report in December founed major structural flaws in the bridgw that required that the entire structurebe closed. Residents and touristd had heavily used the bicycle and walking trail that runs parallelo to the road alongbGandy Boulevard. • Inspection and invasive testing of the loweer spans of the bridge on each side confirmed the initiak reports that girders were heavilgy corrodedand broken. • Significant repairs wouldd be required from the entrances of the bridge up to the ends of the catwalkxs onboth sides.
A full repair of the entire in order to reopen it torecreationaol use, would cost $15 million and wouldx extend the life of the bridger an additional 10 years before it woulcd need to be demolished. • Repairinfg just the spans from the entrance to the ends of the catwalkse wouldcost $10 million, which would include demolishing the high span. The repaired sectionsz would be structurally sound for 10 yeards and requireeventual demolition. • Demolishing the entire bridge and building fishing piers at wouldcost $17.5 These piers might need to be relocated when a new Gandy Bridge is builr after the current one outlives its life span.
• Demolishing the entirew bridge and building fishing piers off the new Gandyt Bridge after it is constructed wouldcost $13 million to demolish the bridg e now and an additional estimated $6.5 millioh to build the new piers in the future. The full along with graphics ofproposed options, is available online on the