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Homeowners' group demands new hearing on Stretch
BY STEVE GIBBS
keysnews.com
KEY LARGO -- State
highway department critic John Hammerstrom says six years have passed
since the Florida Department of Transportation held a local public
hearing on its plan to upgrade and reconfigure the 18-Mile Stretch --
the section of highway connecting the Florida Keys to the mainland.
 Special
to The Citizen
This image prepared by Upper Keys resident John Hammerstrom, who
is opposed to plans for the 18-Mile Stretch, shows Jewfish Creek
with bridges at 10, 21 and 75 feet high. Plans call for the
bridge to be 75 feet high. |
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Now the Key Largo
Federation of Homeowner Associations is demanding one.
Alice N. Bravo,
district environmental management engineer for FDOT, scoffed at
Hammerstrom's claim.
"We've been working on
this project for 15 years, and we've held over a hundred public meetings
in the Upper Keys on this project," she said Friday.
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Still, federation
members were shocked Wednesday, as Hammerstrom, a Tavernier resident who
has been critical of FDOT's plans for the two-lane highway, passed out
an illustration depicting what a proposed 75-foot high bridge over
Jewfish Creek would look like.
Members also were
upset with the news that, according to Hammerstrom, FDOT has put the
onus on the U.S. Coast Guard for the huge cloverleaf bridge, when, in
fact, the Coast Guard has approved the use of either the 75-foot high
fixed span or a moveable bridge 21-feet high.
A consultant's plan
endorsed two years ago by Monroe County calls for a concrete barrier
between northbound and southbound lanes, a 12-foot wide paved shoulder
on the northbound lane for emergency use, and replacement of the Jewfish
Creek Bridge.
"If the public wants
input on what type of bridge we want at Jewfish Creek, time is running
out," Hammerstrom told federation members. "Events are now beyond our
ability to change the road much, but there is one possible avenue and
that is anyone can ask for a public hearing.
"We must demand that
the [U.S.] Army Corps of Engineers hold a public hearing in Key Largo on
the subject of the Stretch and the proposed bridge," he said.
"Everything is changing and [residents] don't have a clue as to what's
going on."
The Corps must issue a
permit to the state for any improvements to the Stretch that impact
surrounding wetlands.
The federation voted
14-1 to send a letter to the Corps demanding a public hearing.
FDOT plans a 75-foot
fixed span bridge with a 65-foot clearance to replace the old drawbridge
at Jewfish Creek. The bridge would be 1.5 miles long and the access
ramps on both the north and south side of the creek would cover a width
of 350 feet.
The existing bridge
has 10 feet of clearance when closed and a much smaller footprint.
The Coast Guard
requires a minimum of 21 feet of clearance for a moveable bridge and 65
feet for a fixed bridge.
"FDOT has told us that
the Coast Guard required the 75-foot bridge," said Hammerstrom. "This is
not true. We in the public were led to believe there was no choice and
we were never given the opportunity to voice our preference."
Friday, Bravo denied
any subterfuge on her agency's part. She said the larger fixed bridge
was chosen due to cost.
"The bascule bridges
[also called drawbridges] are very expensive," Bravo said. "They require
an operator 24 hours a day and new bascule bridges require very
expensive machinery. They also obligate us to long-term maintenance
costs.
The bridge will
consist of two lanes and Bravo says there is not enough width to
increase it to four lanes. "There is no constraint at Jewfish Creek that
would justify the increase in cost that accompanies a bascule bridge,"
she said.
Still, skeptics at the
federation meeting believe the bridge lays the footprint for a wider
highway.
"We'll be supporting
the eventual four-laning of the highway if this [proposed] bridge is
erected," resident Ron Miller said. "We're just rearranging deck chairs
on a ship that's going down."
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