Workshop Set Monday On 40th Avenue NE Bridge Project

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- The first public workshop on the future design and construction of the 40th Avenue N.E. Bridge has been set for Monday, June 11, beginning a period of community conversation and cooperation.

St. Petersburg Engineering & Capital Improvement will host an open house at 6:30 pm at the Shore Acres Recreation Center, 4230 Shore Acres Blvd. N.E., featuring presentations from the design firm, community leaders and impacted citizens, plus results from the initial informational survey.

As part of the newly created 40th Avenue N.E. Bridge website, stakeholders were invited to participate in a survey on how the bridge is used and viewed. Initial feedback derived from that survey will help form a base of opinion-based research that will focus on what replacement span design is best built for the community.

The bridge - which connects the Northeast Park and Shore Acres neighborhoods - has been the focus of community conversation for some time. Discovery of structural deficiencies in August 2017 forced the city to close the bridge for two weeks. Reducing weight limits, temporary modification of the traffic flow to outside lanes and slowing of the speed limit on the bridge have been implemented in an effort to keep the important artery open as plans for its repair and replacement move forward.

A re-alignment of the jersey barriers - and increase in speed limit posting to 25 mph - is now scheduled for this summer. Residents can get updates on the Twitter feed, @StPetePW.

Image via city of St. Pete