JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 There\u2019s a new push to replace the Mathews Bridge. <\/p>\n
A newly formed community task force is set to discuss safety and structural concerns with the 72-year-old St. Johns River crossing.<\/p>\n
The group has already had one meeting, but many more are likely to follow.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n It all got started after the Jacksonville History Center\u2019s Alan Bliss wrote an op ed advocating for the bridge\u2019s replacement. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy. Nobody has said anything of the kind, but it needs to be done,\u201d said Bliss, who is now serving as Chair of the Mathew\u2019s Bridge Task Force. \u201dThe idea really of the task force is basically to continue to raise awareness about this and increase the attention to it, because it\u2019s going to be a generational project.\u201d<\/p>\n Completed in 1953, the 72-year-old iconic burgundy bridge serves as the major traffic artery connecting downtown to Arlington.<\/p>\n But Bliss argued the bridge is approaching the end of its useful life.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThe State Department of Transportation, I think, has been diligent and responsible about maintaining it, but anybody who drives the bridge from day to day certainly has had an awkward experience with it, and plenty of people like me think that the experience of driving it is pretty creepy,\u201d said Bliss.<\/p>\n Councilmember Ken Amaro (R-District 1), who serves Arlington, has also joined the task force.<\/p>\n \u201cFDOT, the maritime community, public safety. So, everyone that has a vested interest is at the table right now having this conversation,\u201d said Amaro.<\/p>\n Given the massive scale of a replacement project and the need to coordinate with local, state and federal officials. Amaro argued the time is now to begin putting the pieces together and coming up with an eventual replacement plan.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s start the conversation now. Let\u2019s look to the future. Let\u2019s determine what\u2019s necessary and how much it\u2019s going to cost. And I think once a conversation begins, then the community as a whole can buy into what the needs are,\u201d said Amaro.<\/p>\n Amaro noted in the task force\u2019s first meeting that JFRD and JSO raised concerns about their ability to respond to accidents on the bridge.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s at the place where it\u2019s not really ideal for today\u2019s traffic patterns,\u201d said Amaro. \u201cThere are no shoulders on the bridge, and so if a motorist needs some assistance, there\u2019s no place to actually be assisted in a safe manner.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been several examples over the years of drivers falling over the sides of the bridge during or after car crashes and other cases involving pedestrians being struck and knocked over the sides.<\/p>\n The bridge was also struck by a Naval vessel in 2013, which left the bridge closed for roughly a month during repairs.<\/p>\n Bliss said he worries the bridge could still be vulnerable to another collision.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen what happened to disrupt traffic in the incident in Baltimore last year. I have no reason to think that there\u2019s any likelihood of such a thing happening here. It\u2019s true that large vessels do sometimes navigate that section of the federal channel, and they pass underneath that bridge, and we\u2019ve seen what the potential is for that,\u201d said Bliss.<\/p>\n But FDOT assured Action News Jax the bridge is safe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mathews Bridge is safe, reliable, well-maintained and it will continue to serve the community for years to come. Any suggestion otherwise is incorrect,\u201d said an FDOT spokesperson in a statement. \u201cIf the bridge were unsafe in any capacity, it would be closed immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n FDOT also threw cold water on the hopes of any near-term replacement of the bridge.<\/p>\n The spokesperson told Action News Jax there are no replacement plans in place, nor does FDOT anticipate the need for replacement in the \u201cforeseeable future\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe structure is maintained to high standards and is not expected to require significant painting for at least the next 15 years,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n Still, Bliss said it\u2019s his hope the task force will get the ball rolling by illustrating the need for a replacement, calculating what it would cost and creating momentum within the community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to be facing problems like this all over the United States in the decades ahead. Here in Jacksonville, the Mathews Bridge is just probably the most significant and most obvious local example of that challenge,\u201d said Bliss.<\/p>\n The Mathews Bridge Task Force has its next meeting in January. <\/p>\n Bliss said it\u2019s his hope to get some sort of action plan together within the next few years and possibly have design concepts ready even earlier than that.<\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 There\u2019s a new push to replace the Mathews Bridge. 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