PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A large group of neighbors in a Pinellas County village say a delayed bridge project is messing up their neighborhood.
Residents who live near the Crosswinds Bridge in Palm Harbor voiced their concerns at a Pinellas County Board of Commissioners meeting this week. It comes as an ongoing construction project to replace two small bridges in the area has faced frequent delays.
The first phase of the $4 million county-paid-for project was to replace the Westwinds Bridge, which was completed in 2021. The second phase is to replace the nearby Crosswinds Bridge, where construction continues many months later.
The delay has become a running joke in the neighborhood, with one resident posting signs at the end of the bridge, the latest reading “sea levels projected to rise 12 inches in the next 30 years. We may need a TALLER bridge by the time this one is done!”
"It's gone on too long, and we aren't getting any answers from anybody,” said Bill Sumansky, who lives nearby.
“It covers the whole the whole gamut of emotions because some of us are really pissed off about it, are really upset about it. And then, you know, some of us take a little bit of a lighter look,” Sumansky added.
It's not only the delay in construction irking everyone, but what's been in their community since.
“This is what we've labeled as the debris field, and this is the corner of someone's home. It used to be a beautiful lawn but now it's full of rubble and construction debris, the barrels and this asphalt,” Annetta Speicher said, pointing to the end of the bridge.
In the center of town is more stuff, a diesel tank, rusted rebar and barrels of who knows what.
“There's a lot of dangerous equipment that's, that's out there. There's a lot of things that are sharp. There's you know, porta potties that are unattended,” said Graham Jankura, another neighbor, adding he hasn’t seen any work done in months.
“My daughter is four going on five and I don't know if there's a time in her life that she hasn't seen the bridge construction, which is pretty incredible,” Jankura said.
According to Pinellas County's website, the project was slated to be complete in September of last year, but the deadline was extended to November because the contractor cited material and staffing shortages. There hasn't been an update posted since.
At this point, around the neighborhood, they're just hoping the stuff gets cleaned up, or they at least get answers to when it will.
“They ultimately reduce our quality of life and we're not getting any response," Adam Reister said.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Pinellas County to find out what the deal is. A spokesperson for the county said, "This has been a difficult project, we are aware of the issues and we are working to get them resolved.”
We also reached out to the contractor, American Empire Builders, and are awaiting a response.
We do know the same contractor was cited several times by the city of St. Petersburg for delayed work on a bridge project in their Shore Acres neighborhood late last year.