ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There’s just one way in and one way out of a section of St. Petersburg’s Tanglewood neighborhood that’s been down to one lane for many months due to an ongoing project to replace an aging bridge.
The project to replace the Bayou Grande Boulevard bridge has seen frequent delays and is causing some frustration for neighbors who haven’t seen much progress and want more transparency over when they could see work being done again.
“This has been going on for a while and it’s been pretty disruptive,” John Westerberg, who lives in Tanglewood, said. He says he's seen close calls, even shouting matches between drivers who fail to follow temporary lights and meet in the middle of the narrow one-lane bridge.
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The $3.6 million project to replace the 73-year-old bridge began in June of 2022 and was supposed to be done by December of last year. On Friday, as some looked on, the project was still only half complete.
“People that come visit us or come back are like oh, I can't believe this is still going on. This is not a big project at least in the scope of the city of St. Petersburg,” Westerberg added.
The construction company who was awarded the bid, American Empire Builders, has been cited and fined several times for delayed work and in mid-January was told by city leaders it was in default.
The same company is under fire for delayed work at other bridge projects in Pinellas County. County leaders ended up terminating contracts with the builders for two projects in Palm Harbor and Harbor Bluffs after 10 Tampa Bay’s coverage earlier this year.
We reached out to the city to see if there are any new updates for Tanglewood — no word yet. Their last update, more than a month ago, said they were coordinating with other contractors the bond surety company may use to complete the project.
Folks around Tanglewood say they want more transparency for when things could or will be back to normal.
"There are a lot of kids, lots of dogs, lots of everything coming back and forth. And you know, it's been frustrating, but I think the biggest frustration is just not knowing when it's going to get resolved,” Sandy Alderson, who lives nearby, said.