TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bridging the age gap

Staff photo by ANDY JONES

Photo of the Cass Street Bridge, partially wrapped for maintenance and an open railroad drawbridge behind it. Rennovation of the aging historic downtown bridges is about to begin, starting with the span over Columbus Drive.

ADVERTISEMENT

By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2009

TAMPA - Two of downtown's oldest Hillsborough River bridges are scheduled for makeovers next year, but don't expect any radical architectural changes for the aging spans.

The Columbus Drive and Platt Street bridges - both more than 80 years old - are among six moveable spans in the city that are designated historically significant structures, dictating they must retain their original looks.

When Roaring 20s design meets 21st century safety requirements, it poses some interesting problems, said Steve Valdez, spokesman for Hillsborough County Public Works, which contracts with the city to maintain its two Tampa bridges: Columbus Drive and Platt Street.

"You have to build bridges to 2009 standards, but it has to look like and operate like it did when it was built," in this case, soon after the turn of the last century, Valdez said. "It's usually a triumph to make that happen."

The 82-year-old Columbus Drive Bridge, for example, is a bobtail swing bridge, which means it opens by pivoting off-center, a design used in canals and other narrow waterways to provide boats a wider berth.

The 470-foot span has a bridge tender's house in a position which, today, is regarded as a major safety issue.

"From the bridge tender's house you can't see boats coming up and down the river," Valdez said. "We asked for exclusion, but the Historical Review Board said no" to reconstructing the structure elsewhere on the bridge.

Originally, the tender emerged from the house - wired controls in hand - to trigger the opening of the bridge from outside, where a clear line of sight was available, Valdez explained.

Designers came up with a unique solution to retain the original position and look of the house while providing necessary visibility.

"What we had to end up doing," Valdez said, is design a slanted Plexiglas roof for the two-story structure, providing a clear line of sight. "I thought that was pretty clever," he said.

The transparent roof, however, spawned other minor problems related to the Florida sun, so reflective material was used on the new roof to reduce unwanted solar heating.

Design work for refurbishing the Columbus Drive Bridge is expected to be completed by year's end. The reconstruction and design work will cost an estimated $12.97 million. "We hope to begin construction by late spring or early summer of 2010," Valdez said, adding that the job will take about 16 months.

Design work for the major overhaul of the Platt Street Bridge is scheduled to be completed this month, with work beginning in early spring. "We specifically have to wait until parade season is over," Valdez said. "It's going to take about 14 months, which means we're going to have an extended road closure," Valdez said.

The Platt Street Bridge design and makeover will cost an estimated $15.24 million.

Buddy Evans, the city's longtime bridge superintendent who knows the pedigree of each of the historical spans, recognizes the need to preserve such amazing examples of engineering.

Testing the Laurel Street Bridge recently, Evans marvels at the reliability and excellent operating condition of the 82-year-old span that still employs mainly original equipment.

"It's amazing the craftsmanship and quality that went into it," he said, pointing out the pair of 50-horsepower engines and well-greased main gear drive that lift the 99-foot single section of bridge to a 70-degree angle.

"The gearing is all original," though the bridge has seen periodic electrical upgrades through the years, including a modern control panel in the bridge tender's house and surge protectors to help protect against lightning strikes.

The equally old Columbus Drive Bridge, also built in 1927, is one of two bobtail swing structures in Florida and might be among few remaining in the country, Evans said. "It's a cool bridge."

The 83-year-old Cass Street Bridge, another bascule span, is in the midst of a facelift and structural maintenance, performed about every decade. Since spring, a crew from the marine division of Worth Contracting of Jacksonville has, among other things, been water blasting old paint off the bridge's metal surfaces to prepare it for a new coat. The bridge sections first are draped to prevent old paint or other possible pollutants from falling into the river.

"All of our bridges are in pretty good shape," Evans said. Federal inspection of every bridge structure and its mechanical and electrical components occurs annually, and every two years the agency has divers examine the underwater foundations.

All six spans were designated historical structures in 2006, said Dennis Fernandez, the city's historic preservation manager.

The big gears, wheels and some of the other components have been working for 80 years, and still are functioning, Fernandez said. "When I'm dealing with engineers, they're always fascinated" by that.

Tampa's assortment of different types of historical moveable bridges attracts attention from visiting engineers, agrees Evans, the city's bridge superintendent for 35 years.

But they also are attractive to a glitzier industry.

In 2003, film crews spent three months here filming "The Punisher," a high-profile Hollywood production made entirely in the Tampa Bay area.

For one scene, Evans was directed to raise the Laurel Street Bridge to a 15-degree incline to accommodate a car chase in which a car sped over the partially open span. Cameras capturing the moment included some affixed to the underside of the bridge, Evans said.

"The Punisher" pumped about $12 million into the local economy, not counting what the film crew spent on personal expenses.

When director Jonathan Hensleigh was asked why he chose Tampa as the setting for his film, he replied, "Do you know how many drawbridges Tampa has? It's perfect for an action movie."

Tampa's Historic Bridges

COLUMBUS DRIVE

Originally named the Michigan Avenue Bridge, the 470-foot span was completed in 1927 at a cost of $420,000, built to link two then-new neighborhoods, upper West Tampa and western Tampa Heights. It is a bobtail swing bridge, which means it rotates on a turntable and pivot to swing parallel with the channel. Bobtail means the pivot is off-center from the moveable bridge section to provide ample berth to boats.

KENNEDY BOULEVARD

Completed in 1913, the former Lafayette Street Bridge formed the main artery between South Tampa residential areas and the Franklin Street commercial area once traversed by streetcars. The Florida Department of Transportation-owned bridge is 323 feet long and cost $250,000. It was the third bridge at the site and is Florida's oldest bascule span bridge, functioning with a weighted counterbalance system to assist in lifting the deck. The importance of a convenient connection between downtown and Hyde Park spurred Tampa Electric Co. to share the expense so the utility could run streetcars over the bridge.

Lafayette Street and the bridge were renamed to commemorate President John F. Kennedy's Nov. 18, 1963, Tampa visit and speech, four days before his assassination in Dallas.

CASS STREET

Completed in 1926, the 511-foot trunnion bascule bridge built to serve the southern end of West Tampa cost $400,000. The same designers did the Platt Street Bridge, which is almost identical. The adjacent railroad bridge, built in 1915, provided access to the Port of Tampa.

PLATT STREET

Completed in 1926 to connect Bayshore Boulevard to downtown and relieve congestion on the 1913 bridge that today still serves Kennedy Boulevard, this 518-foot bascule bridge is made of concrete mixed with pebbles and cost $400,000. It is named for O.H. Platt, who came to Tampa in the late 1880s and developed Hyde Park, named after his Illinois hometown.

LAUREL STREET

The former Fortune Street Bridge originally built in 1892 to provide access between West Tampa's cigar industries and Ybor City was replaced in 1927 with a 368-foot bascule bridge costing $400,000. The bridge was named for "Aunt Fortune" Taylor, a former slave who, in 1875, received homestead title to 33 acres on the east bank of the Hillsborough River.

T.N. HENDERSON

Built in 1939, the Hillsborough Avenue Bridge replaced a wooden one. The 358-foot, $200,000 steel vertical lift bridge was named for Thomas N. Henderson (1870-1944), who opened Tampa's first steam laundry soon after he arrived in Tampa in the 1890s. An active member of Tampa's political, business and civic scene, he also owned and operated a lumber mill and was president of the Tampa Coca-Cola Bottling Works at the turn of the last century.

Source: Tampa Historic Preservation Commission "Properties Landmark Designation Report," May 9, 2006 Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 259-7124 Source: Tampa Historic Preservation Commission "Properties Landmark Designation Report," May 9, 2

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT