County Council To Tackle Funding Of Turnbull Bay Bridge Replacement

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Volusia County, FL - In Thursday's meeting the Volusia County Council will tackle funding to replace the Turnbull Bay Bridge in New Smyrna Beach.

Back in January the council approved a Local Agency Program (LAP) grant with FDOT for up to $5,426,434 in federal funding for the project, which at the time was the estimated construction cost. But the lowest construction bid was $2,932,566 over that federal funding amount.

Between $1.6 million in SU federal funds from the R2CTPO and an additional $1,121,416 from FDOT, the county still needs $211,150 to fund the project. The plan is to make up that difference with local option gas tax revenues.

According to Gerald Brinton, County Engineer, the project should begin within 45 days of approval and the new bridge would be in place about 2 years after work begins. Brinton says the replacement bridge will "be a 2 lane bridge, it'll have sidewalks on both sides," and people will still be able to fish off of it.

The plan is to keep the current bridge open during construction. Brinton says there will be some closures of a temporary nature, but for the most part traffic will be allowed through the duration of the construction.

For details on the agenda item go to Volusia.org.

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