Recently, Gerry O’Reilly, Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for our district (District 4), provided an update regarding the progress on the new retrofit railing favored by our Town and other island communities over the previously planned and halted chain-link fence option for the high Wabasso bridge.
As previously indicated, FDOT ran into difficulties when its asset maintenance contractor unexpectedly ceased operations in the US and Canada in October last year.
In early December, FDOT entered into an interim agreement with a new asset maintenance contractor, which recently obtained bids for the railing project. These bids were significantly higher in price than anticipated in the last quarter of 2021 – escalating costs of labor, steel, and shipping all contributed.
Although FDOT has identified funding despite the substantial increase, it is still working towards programming the project, which can no longer be treated as an asset maintenance project but is instead a construction project for which a more detailed process is applicable. FDOT has indicated that it will work closely with the Indian River County Metropolitan Planning Organization regarding the new circumstances for the project, then rebid the project with the intent to proceed with construction of the railing this summer and the installation thereof at the end of the year.
Unfortunately, the stanchions currently in place on the bridge, which were installed to accommodate the previously planned chain-link fencing, will not be removed prior to the installation of the new railings.
FDOT indicated that it has been working extremely hard to keep this project moving despite several unanticipated complications, and the Town has been thankful for FDOT's efforts to keep the project moving in the direction of completion per the modified CalTrans design.