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Miami Herald - 10-13-99
State To Replace Miami River Span
The Florida Department of Transportation announced plans Wednesday
to replace the 71-year-old drawbridge over the Miami River at
Northwest 12th Avenue near 11th Street.
Work is not expected to begin until 2004.
State transportation officials told a crowded public hearing
at a hotel near the bridge that the old drawbridge must be replaced
because it has "numerous deficiencies" and opens far
too quickly.
The bridge's estimated 1,800 openings per year create traffic
backups on 12th Avenue, a key access route for emergency vehicles
carrying patients to Jackson Memorial Hospital or its Ryder Trauma
Center, state officials said.
DOT's plan is to replace the 17-foot drawbridge with a new
30-foot facility expected to open 25 percent less. The cost is
estimated at $32 million.
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