Rebuilding a community link: when the bridge to a popular Florida island developed a severe crack, the county DOT sprang into action. Here's how the bridge reopened ahead of schedule

Public Roads, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Norah Davis

By the next day, the Lee County DOT had reinforced the beam with temporary steel posts at the location of the crack and also placed posts to shore up the other beams. A structural engineering company determined that the post-tensioning of the beam was failing and recommended replacement of the bridge's damaged 15-meter (48-foot) center section. For the replacement, they suggested using steel girders and steel open-grate decking to avoid the weeklong curing needed for concrete.

Working Around the Clock

Lee County DOT brought in the steel girders in advance, and the Florida DOT supplied steel decking. Meanwhile, county officials began their planning--incorporating aspects of Sanibel's hurricane evacuation plan into their emergency response strategy. The city posted updates on its Web site and set up a tourist hotline, while the newspaper ran Q-and-A stories to prepare residents and visitors.

Some tourists decided to end their vacations early and go home before the shutdown. But most elected to stay. For those scheduled to leave during the shutdown, island businesses would pay for sightseeing boats to ferry them from Sanibel to Fort Myers, where buses would shuttle them to the airport. At the airport, volunteers would staff an information booth coordinated by the Lee County Visitors and Convention Bureau. Buses would convey arriving tourists to the ferries, where they would be met by buses and taxis and taken to their hotels.

Meanwhile, residents and civic organizations made their plans as well. Even Sanibel's wildlife rehabilitation center made contingency plans, deciding to continue accepting injured animals from the mainland. A boat staffed by a volunteer would make the pickups.

The DOT elected to start the shutdown at 10 p.m. on Sunday, January 19, as the next day was Martin Luther King Day and schools would be closed. The shutdown was expected to last 32 hours, with the bridge slated to reopen at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

As The News-Press reported, it went "like a military exercise" despite a chilly night. Law enforcement barricaded the site to keep the curious at a safe distance while the contractor sawed the bridge deck into four sections. A crane lifted the detached deck, rail, and beam sections, each weighing up to 22,700 kilograms (50,000 pounds). The workers removed the first section from the pile caps by 3 a.m. Monday and by 5 a.m. had removed the other three.

After clearing the rubble, the contractor began replacing the superstructure with the preassembled steel girders and grate. On Monday, a winter cold front kept temperatures below 70 degrees (chilly for a winter day in southern Florida) as the workers welded the steel deck grate into place. By 7 p.m., Scott Gilbertson, transportation director for Lee County, announced that the bridge would reopen by midnight Monday instead of 6 a.m. on Tuesday--only 26 hours after it closed.

And, in fact, traffic did start crossing the bridge again 6 hours ahead of schedule.

Examining the Pieces

"When we saw-cut the girder to see what was going on inside," says Wingard, "the prestressing strands and reinforcing steel looked as good as new in a number of places--like the day the bridge was poured. But directly over the seawall, some strands were corroded all the way through."