The Florida Department of Transportation said it received an emergency declaration
that will help expedite repairs after Wednesday's partial bridge collapse in North Palm Beach.
While we still don't know what caused that chunk of side walk to collapse into the Earman River, it has some starting to worry about other bridges in our area that need to be replaced.
It has driver Timothy Fides thinking twice about how he gets to work.
“I was thinking about taking 95 instead.”
He’s not just thinking about the U-S1 bridge that collapsed on Wednesday. Fides is now worried about the US-1 bridge in Jupiter, where he works as a captain for Sea Tow.
It’s the bridge that goes across the Loxahatchee River near Beach Road.
“Obviously I don’t want to be the person on the bridge or driving when something like that happens,” said Fides.
It’s one of the 4 bridges in Palm Beach County, that the Florida Department of Transportation categorizes as structurally deficient.
It’s a 59 year old bridge. The sufficiency rating, which takes into account safety, got a grade of 54 out of 100.
However unlike those three other bridges, this Jupiter bridge, which is also managed by FDOT, is still waiting on its official plans.
“They’ve told us it’s not unsafe, but that it definitely needs to be replaced,” said Todd Wodraska, the mayor of the Town of Jupiter.
“I think the plan is that they’re going to replace the bridge in 2021. I don’t think there are any safety issues based on the reports I’ve gotten, but but given what happened right around the corner in North Palm Beach, I think we’re going to have to ask the question,” said Wodraska.
There will be a public hearing Tuesday, October 24 at the Jupiter Community Center to discuss the project.