Town, FDOT spar over bridge construction costs

A Florida Department of Transportation project that spanned 10 months on the Longboat Pass Bridge is almost complete. But what isn’t finished is a pending legal dispute in which FDOT seeks $1.5 million from the Town of Longboat Key. That’s the amount of the cost overrun for the project after FDOT discovered damage to the bridge.  

“Litigation has not been filed but it is considered anticipated litigation,” said Town Attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale.

In October 2014, TB Landmark Construction Inc. was in the middle of a $1.8 million town project to install a new 16-inch water main and line under Sarasota Bay to Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island. Using a directional bore, the company installed a new water line on the floor of Sarasota Bay that will be used to funnel Manatee County drinking water to the island if and when the Longboat Pass Bridge is replaced.

On Oct. 24, 2014, the bridge tender noticed the structure’s bascule, which allows the bridge to open and close, was stuck in the down position.

In a Nov. 25, 2014 letter, attorney Michael Bradford of Tampa-based Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel wrote that FDOT believes severe damage to a bridge piling pier, which holds the bridge up, was caused by the TB Landmark Construction crew.

“While drilling and performing the directional bore, TB Landmark pressurized the subsurface soils and destabilized...the soils that support the bridge,” the letter states. “As a result, on Oct. 24, 2014, the bridge experienced significant settlement, which caused substantial damage to the bridge.”

James Jacobson, FDOT chief bridge engineer, said damage to the bridge was severe. 

“Survey measurements showed the pier shifted, leaned slightly and cracked the outside concrete pier surface,” Jacobson said. “Anchor bolts holding up the bridge span were noticeably pulled out of place.”

But the town denies that it’s responsible for the damages.

“It’s FDOT’s assertion the work a contractor we hired to do work nearby somehow affected the foundation of the existing bridge,” said Public Works Director Juan Florensa, who said the town also hired forensic engineers to inspect the structural integrity of the bridge after the damage was reported. “The town emphatically rejects that claim.”

Florensa said that work the contractor was performing in October 2014 was 75 feet east of the bridge and 35 feet below the surface of Sarasota Bay.

The town has received a defense of the bridge claim from its insurer, and the law firm of Fort Myers-based Henderson Franklin is representing the town’s insurance claim.