New Smyrna Beach, FL - The Volusia County Council is set to cut the
And
The original bridge, which was built in 1967, was deemed structurally deficient as the bridge fell into disrepair. In 2011, the State of Florida labeled one of the support beams at risk for failure, and closed the bridge for 20 days.
"It's not uncommon, particularly with bridge in salt water areas, that you have problems with the steel inside the concrete," said Tadd Kasbeer, the County Engineer.
According to Kasbeer, the steel supports, which are encased in concrete pillars, would begin to rust and weaken, causing the concrete to flake off making the bridge weaker.
"It lasted its standard life cycle, so it was nothing unusual, nothing that wasn't expected in an environment such as this," commented Kasbeer.
The new bridge is 440 feet longer than the original bridge and 20 feet wider. In addition to two travel lanes, the new bridge will feature 8 foot wide safety shoulders with traffic barriers and 6 foot sidewalks on each side.
The total cost on the bridge came out to $7.9 million, which was funded in cooperation with the Florida Department of Transportation and local funds.
"The funds are primarily federal funds that the DOT manages," said Kasbeer. "We also used some local gas tax money to make up the difference."
And the bridge gets its name from the late New Smyrna Beach resident, Michael Eader, who helped encourage Volusia County officials to keep the old bridge open during construction of the new one.
The ribbon cutting is set to begin at nine o'clock tomorrow morning (March 1st) on the west end of the bridge.
