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State wants explanation of bridge damage

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BY MARK DOUGLAS

NEWS CHANNEL 8

Published: March 27, 2009

BELLEAIR SHORE - The state of Florida wants to know why Pinellas County failed to alert state engineers about a construction mishap involving a bridge under construction.

More than 2,700 pounds of concrete rained to the ground in large chunks Feb. 6 at the new Belleair Beach Causeway Bridge, but county engineers called the problem "spalling" - commonly used to describe flakes rather than chunks - and made no written reference to it until two weeks later, records show.

The Florida Department of Transportation has halted repair work until it gets a full report. Project engineers insist the structure is safe and Pinellas County still plans to open the new bridge to traffic at the end of next month.

But the lack of communication produced some heated discussion, according to information obtained by News Channel 8 under Florida's public records laws.

The bridge mishap and its aftermath were called a "developing mess" in an e-mail to engineers March 5 from Lawrence Taylor, special projects administrator with the state Department of Transportation.

During a recent meeting of 15 engineers, DOT structures engineer Jose Danon fumed at Pinellas County and contractors for not alerting him to the problem.

"I wish you would have called me immediately," Danon said in an audio recording of that meeting. "For one reason, I wouldn't have allowed you, your decision wasn't good ... to continue grouting tendons. We should have waited."

Pinellas County's project manager, Tony Horrnik, shot back: "I strongly feel we acted responsibly and you've got an opportunity on a weekly basis to know what is going on on this project."

Pinellas County spokeswoman Meg Korakis told a reporter the county is under no obligation to communicate with the state on any set timetable, even though the DOT acts as a watchdog for the federal money funding nearly half of the $72 million project.
Danon questioned how Pinellas engineers could describe the falling concrete as "spalling": "Never in my life would I have called that a spall. I don't know where you guys got that word. ... It's a humongo spall."

The mishap left a void about 10 feet across and six or more inches deep in the underside of the new bridge, exposing steel and steel tendons that strengthen concrete bridge sections when workers pull them tight, like beads on a string.

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