HARBOR BLUFFS, Fla. — There’s just one lane of travel at the end of Oakwood Drive in Harbor Bluffs, while a traffic light has been signaling drivers across for more than a year. Left over equipment, material and more sits idly by.
“It’s very disappointing,” says Darcell Morrison, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 30 years.
She says the community was excited when work to replace the aging bridge began over two years ago, but moral has lowered since.
“As time went by—we were respectful and then a lot of time went by, a year, two years, now two and a half years. My [worries] about it is the safety of our community,” she added.
Her and other neighbors on their island all expressed similar concerns, asking for answers about its direction.
“It’s something that you just get used to dealing with it,” says Stan Wamsley, who also lives on the island. “You pay all these tax dollars and you don't know where they're going. Not here,”
The project to replace the bridge has seen significant delays, with little progress made in the months since 10 Tampa Bay first reported on the issue.
Scheduled to be complete last year, Pinellas County Commissioners terminated their contracts with American Empire Builders in January for failing to do complete work on the Oakwood Drive project and other bridge replacement jobs in Palm Harbor.
The same contractor was also in charge of replacing two other bridges, one being overseen by the city of St. Pete in the Tanglewood neighborhood. Another in Downtown St. Pete being overseen by FDOT. All three are now in a similar boat.
While work to complete the bridges in Palm Harbor is nearly complete, the job in Harbor Bluffs was far from finished—about 30% done when the contract was terminated.
Because of that, the county had to do another engineering assessment of the structure, before working with the surety (insurance) company to find a different contractor to come in and finish the job.
This week, a Pinellas County spokesperson tells 10 Tampa Bay the insurance company is “receiving quotes from multiple contractors and will be selecting its preferred contractor.”
There is no timeline yet for when work could resume. They’re working through the same legal, contractual process that both the city of St. Petersburg and FDOT are doing to get their respective delayed bridge projects back on line.
Recently, St. Pete leaders say two contractors submitted bids to finish the Tanglewood project.
FDOT says it is "actively working with the contractor and their surety company on a recovery plan to complete the project in a timely manner. The department will keep you posted on the project schedule."
RELATED: St. Pete leaders 'putting pressure' on surety company to complete long-delayed bridge replacement
“I’m frustrated. We’re all frustrated, angry, but where do we go?” Morrison added.
In the meantime, the county says there are no safety concerns with Oakwood Dr. Bridge structure itself, but all the homes on the island are in Evacuation Zone A, so residents should stay alert this hurricane season when storms approach.