The Century Council Voted In February To Replace Bridge Near Collapse. Nothing Has Been Done.

October 22, 2020

A Century town council member is questioning the repair status of a local bridge that was closed over eight months ago after it was discovered to be near the point of collapse.

On January 29, the town suddenly closed the bridge on Freedom Road, just east of Jefferson Avenue. Photos obtained by NorthEscambia.com a few days later showed the dangerous conditions that led to the emergency closure.

Several pilings under the wooden bridge were no longer properly supporting the structure, and some of the pilings were split or have extreme deterioration.

At this week’s town council meeting, council member James Smith questioned why nothing has been done to repair the bridge. The closure has turned Freedom Road into a cul-de-sac with one way in and one way out for residents, including the Camellia Gardens apartment complex.

Interim City Manager Vernon Prather said the town had received no complaints from area residents.

In early February, the Century Town Council voted to move forward with replacing the bridge. Town staff was to determine how to pay the estimated $300,000 price tag. The council voted for the replacement over an estimated $75,000 to $100,000 for repairs that might last a decade, according to Interim City Manager Vernon Prather.

A final determination of a funding option was to come at un upcoming meeting. As of October, that never happened.

In January Mott McDonald engineers conducted a limited inspection of the bridge and found the following problems:

  • A backwall has deflected toward the water, pushing piles toward the water and causing them to rotate, split and no longer bear weight.
  • One bridge piling has a split at the top of the pile, but it is providing some support.
  • A second pile has been pushed completely out and no longer supports the bridge.
  • A third pile has split, and only half the pile is providing support.
  • A fourth pile has deterioration with only a three-inch diameter section remaining about six feet below the bridge. The outer pile section has broken.
  • There is soil loss behind a backwall.
  • There is a large void underneath the roadway on the east side the bridge

“We cannot predict when the…backwall lateral loads will complete fail…causing the bridge the collapse,” engineer Bart Hendricks wrote in his report. “We also cannot predict when the roadway over the void on the southeast corner will collapse”

The age of the bridge was not provided to the engineer, but he determined the timber pilings may be at or beyond the typical life of 30 years. “A better long-term financial decision may be to replace this structure rather than perform repairs,” Hendricks wrote.

Mott McDonald engineers also recommended that the town perform bridge inspections for all bridges that are not inspected by the Florida Department of Transportation. Those inspections are required every two years for longer bridges by the Federal Highway Administration. The town has not moved forward with the inspections.

Photos/graphics for and by NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

6 Responses to “The Century Council Voted In February To Replace Bridge Near Collapse. Nothing Has Been Done.”

  1. judy on October 23rd, 2020 10:59 am

    Century is led by some very greedy, very lazy people! They are great at voting to do something, then they never do it. Instead they find some other way to spend the money. I do NOT understand why the county has not stepped in and put an end to this so called “town”…

  2. David on October 23rd, 2020 9:29 am

    That is the problem, you have no town government, never did and never will

  3. Bin Ervington on October 22nd, 2020 3:18 pm

    This the result of hauling over weighted loads of sewage from the Century sewage plant and they knows it. They didn’t complain until driver of trucks mentioned the bridge. Then they routed them straight up Jefferson to connect with highway 4.

  4. D’Hi on October 22nd, 2020 2:09 pm

    One hundred percent agree with you, D’Lo.

    The Town government really needs to make a decision about the future well-being of its residents and businesses. The Town really needs to allow its residents to vote on a referendum to remain a municipality or to dissolve and become unincorporated into Escambia County.

    If infrastructure cannot be repaired, and a pathway forward cannot be identified that is feasible to retain and even grow the Town economically and demographically, then the best outcome for the citizens and businesses may very well be to dissolve the municipality.

    Florida Statutes clearly provide a pathway for a referendum. Either the Town Council can put it on the 2022 ballot, or the citizens of the Town can petition for the same.

    But to continue along the same aimless and budget restrained pathway without putting this to the electorate is not beneficial to Century’s citizens. With so many questions and unknowns, few people or businesses will invest there, jeopardizing the future outlook for any hope of a turnaround.

  5. DLo on October 22nd, 2020 7:48 am

    You know who would be better equipped to deal with problems like this, the county. But, Century insists on subjecting itself to this artificial, unnecessary layer of wasteful local government. Century’s town governments ineptness and corruption has cost the residents and all tax payers(through grants) countless millions of dollars in wasted funds. Now the very core of the infrastructure is literally crumbling (water, gas, roads, bridges, etc.) and this useless entity does not possess the ability to even begin to conduct the most basic of governmental responsibilities. It’s decades past time to put this useless dinosaur out of it’s misery and dissolve the Century town government.

  6. ensley boy on October 22nd, 2020 7:39 am

    We all know things have gotten cheaper since eight months ago. They might want to update the replacement price tag. The longer they wait, the more it”s going to cost.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News