TREASURE ISLAND — Treasure Island may soon be out of the drawbridge business.
City commissioners on Oct. 20 gave staff the go-ahead to open talks with the Florida Department of Transportation on a swap. The state would take ownership of the Treasure Island Causeway bascule bridge, and the city would take over maintenance and control of its stretch of Gulf Boulevard.
The idea came from FDOT, according to Public Works Director and Assistant City Manager Gary Volenec. He said he confirmed the agency’s interest with its multimodal administrator the day before the meeting.
For the city, the appeal is money. Property owners pay a half-mill in taxes to maintain the bridge, which carries traffic over Boca Ciega Bay between St. Petersburg and Treasure Island. The city budgets millions for the work, which includes structural rehabilitation, mechanical maintenance, rebuilding hydraulic cylinders, replacing lighting and keeping up the electrical system.
“As you are aware, the bridge is an expensive item to maintain and operate,” Volenec told commissioners. “Gulf Boulevard is not an easy thing to maintain; (however,) it’s substantially less expensive for the citizens. I think it’s a concept worth exploring.”
Volenec asked permission to draft a nonbinding letter from the mayor to FDOT authorizing staff to meet with the agency. The talks would be strictly fact-finding, he said, to weigh the pros and cons for residents and sort out ongoing maintenance responsibilities.
Commissioners didn’t need much convincing.
“I don’t have any issue with trying to see if we can lighten the load,” Mayor John Doctor said.
Commissioner Chris Clark said he was “a hundred percent for it.” Pointing to Volenec’s assessment that the road would cost far less than the bridge, he added, “So if we can get rid of it, and it saves us money, I’m all for it.”
Commissioner Tammy Vasquez urged staff to move “in the fastest way possible.”
“Absolutely,” Doctor said.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Commissioner Arden Dickey said. “Definitely pursue it.”
Any agreement would need approval from both the state and the City Commission.
Treasure Island isn’t the first beach city to consider taking Gulf Boulevard off the state’s hands. Last year, then-St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila floated taking over the road in his city, but his proposal to charge a toll at entry points onto the island drew objections. Current Mayor Scott Tate ran against Petrila’s ideas and won.
The Treasure Island Causeway dates back 87 years. It opened in 1939 to spur development and, later, post-Depression and post-World War II tourism, carrying traffic from the St. Petersburg mainland onto the island. For decades, motorists paid a toll to cross the art deco-style bascule bridge.
Time, weather and tidal erosion eventually caught up with the old drawbridge. Engineering studies in 2002 found the bridge and its approach spans structurally deficient, and it closed in 2003 for a $44.4 million replacement. Work on new fixed east and west approach bridges began in late 2003 and wrapped up in 2004. One leaf of the new drawbridge reopened in June 2006, and the completed project was dedicated Aug. 25, 2007. The $1 toll was eliminated for good when the new bridge opened.
The new bridge kept the art deco styling but added a computerized drawbridge operated from a touch-screen monitor. When closed, it offers about 21 feet of vertical clearance. An estimated 17,000 drivers cross the 1,014-foot bridge each day, roughly 6.2 million a year.
According to Southland Construction, which built the current bridge, the project won the FTBA/FDOT Major Bridge Award for Best in Construction in 2007 and ranked No. 7 on Roads & Bridges magazine’s list of the top 10 bridges that year.