Bridge Symposium Report Released

Honoring community concerns such as historic preservation and compatibility are some of the issues addressed in a series of recommendations to improve bridge repair and replacement policies and procedures in Florida. 1000 Friends' Florida Bridge Symposium, held in Orlando on November 4 and 5, 1999, brought into focus these and other important issues. Based on earlier surveys and research, four focus areas were identified for the symposium aimed at improving current practices. These included community input and historical significance, long-range planning, design and coordination, and evaluating bridge alternatives.

At the symposium, concerned citizens, local and state government representatives, and transportation experts formed four focus groups to develop recommendations. Then all the participants reconvened to rank the recommendations, selecting eleven as their top priorities. These included expanding the inventory of historic bridges and making that listing more available to the public; giving historic and other "constrained" bridges special consideration for repair instead of replacement; informing the public better and earlier about proposed projects and about such options as opportunities to incorporate aesthetic design details and share costs to produce more compatible bridges; providing specific feedback to the public on how their concerns will be addressed; and better coordinating the efforts of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, the Coast Guard and the Florida Departments of State and Transportation in long range planning and the Planning, Development and Environment (PD&E) process.

The final bridge symposium report, with detailed recommendations, has been distributed to the affected agencies and those who attended the symposium, and is available online at www.1000friendsofflorida.org, under "Publications." To follow up, symposium sponsors including the Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Department of State, Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council, and National Trust for Historic Preservation, along with the Coast Guard—an active participant but not a sponsor—have agreed to work toward implementing the suggested recommendations to correct problems with the current bridge rehabilitation and replacement process. For more information, contact Dan Pennington at 850.222.6277 or by e-mail at dpen@tallynet.com.

1000 Friends extends a special thanks to board member Tim Jackson, and his planning firm of Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart, Inc. for their ongoing support for this important project.