Portion of Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach ‘unstable,’ but state wants thousands for detailed records – TCPalm

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VERO BEACH Extensive deterioration to concrete beams on the eastside of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge has left a portion of the span unstable, yet the Florida Department of Transportation maintains the bridge is safe.

FDOT records obtained by TCPalm provide an incomplete picture of the 17th Street Bridge. Moreover, heavy redactions and high costs for obtaining records from the state agency have raised concerns from First Amendment experts.

Documents show the three most eastern spans are scour critical, an industry term for a bridge that has so much erosion or removal of its foundational materials that it reachesa critical point.

Sections of spans 58 and 59 on the east end of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach are seen crumbling away exposing rusted metal cable while still be considered in fair condition according to the Florida Highway Administration. The bridge was built in 1979 with prestressed concrete and is the second-most trafficked bridge in Indian River County over a major body of water , with 23,500 trips per day.(Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said scour is the most common cause of bridge failure.

The inspection report says the bridge's scour-critical levels make it unstable, according to a briefstructural appraisal section. Further details are not included.

Photos taken under the bridge show the scour-critical elements concrete crumbling into the Indian River Lagoon, leaving steel rebar to rust and fray as its exposed to the water that is less than 5 feet below.

The FDOT documents, however, are heavily redacted. The most recent inspection report obtained, conducted in November and completed in January, is 101 pages, and nearly two-thirds of its pages are entirely blacked-out. Pages that do provideinformation often redact details.

A deeper look: Concrete crumbles, steel rusts as work begins on 'structurally deficient' Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach

Sections of spans 58 and 59 on the east end of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach are seen crumbling away exposing rusted metal cable while still be considered in fair condition according to the Florida Highway Administration. The bridge was built in 1979 with prestressed concrete and is the second-most trafficked bridge in Indian River County over a major body of water , with 23,500 trips per day.(Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

Nearly two months ago, TCPalm requested documents such as emails and other FDOT materials related to the17th Street Bridge. In response, the Department of Transportation said it would charge nearly $2,000 for select emails about the bridge and involving FDOT District 4 leadership.

FDOT often cites a public-records exemption tied to Sept. 11 that allows information relating to the physical security of a structure to remain confidential and exempt from public inspections.

That approach only hurts the public, according to one expert.

When the government uses an exemption intended to thwart terrorism to block the public from knowing about the potentially dilapidated state of our bridges, we know something is seriously wrong with open government in Florida, said Pamela Marsh, executive director of Floridas First Amendment Foundation. This leaves the public completely in the dark about how or why an agency determined a bridge is safe or unsafe to use.

According to the inspection report, the 17th Street Bridge has deficiencies that require prompt corrective action. The superstructure of the bridge is in poor condition, the report says.

Although extensive beam deterioration exists, the partial analysis dated Oct. 16, 2019, found that, due to the location of the damage, spans 57, 58 and 59 do not control for the overall structure, Scott DeReus, engineer for the contracted companyVolkert, wrote in December in the inspection report.

The report released by FDOT blacks out the bridge's weight capacity. It does say how much weight it could carry if it was "posted," or needed to be closed to general traffic. FDOT has repeatedly declined to provide the bridge's weight capacity.

The bridge, built in 1979, carries 23,5000 trips per day, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Traffic is currently limited to thesouth lanes of the bridge while work continues on the north side.The bridge has been known to have deterioration of some of its beams since a 2018 inspection, according to the report. Work on the structure ofthe bridge had been paused, and had restarted in February, according to FDOT records.

Read the inspection report from FDOT:

A line of vehicles is seen on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, heading west over the Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach as all traffic has been diverted to the eastbound lanes as construction crews continue to work on the structural integrity of the bridge. (Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

A scour-critical bridge is one with abutment or pier foundations which are rated as unstable, according to a 1991 technical advisory on evaluating scour-critical bridges from the Federal Highway Administration. Scour-critical bridges should have a plan of action for monitoring the performance and closing of the bridge, if necessary, during and after flood events.

The 17th Street Bridge is rated high risk unknown. according to the report.

Until the risk can be determined, a plan of action for a scour-critical bridge should be developed and implemented to reduce the risk to users from a bridge failure during and immediately after a flood event, according to a 2001 memorandum from the Federal Highway Administration.

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The Tallahassee-based First Amendment Foundationargues the records held by FDOT should be given to the public without an astronomical, baseless price tag. By doing so, Marsh, the foundations executive director, said it is another sneaky government way of discouraging citizens.

They belong to the taxpayer. Why should we have to pay twice? Marsh said. This kind of dysfunctional governance puts us all at risk. If the government really has nothing to hide, why hide it?

The 9/11 exemption was intended to prevent attacks and protect individuals using government infrastructure, said Virginia Hamrick, staff attorney for the foundation.

Instead, she said, FDOT is using the lawin a way to keep the public is in the dark as to how or why the agency determined a bridge is safe or unsafe to use.

Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach(Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

Joshua Solomon is a politics and transportation reporter covering the Treasure Coast.You can reach him at 772-692-8935 or joshua.solomon@tcpalm.com.

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Portion of Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach 'unstable,' but state wants thousands for detailed records - TCPalm