New $20M FIUBridge Will Improve Safety of Students, Honor Victims of Collapse

from Southeast 13, June 28, 2023

USACE’sArkansas River Deepening to Relieve Congestion On Roads, Rails

FIU from page 16 can be made much safer with an improved design at a far lesser cost.

But FIU’s Jessell said he has no doubt the bridge is needed because students have been among those struck and injured or killed while crossing the intersection.

FIU sophomore Freddy Gonzales, interviewed on a recent afternoon while he waited to cross Southwest Eighth, said he would prefer to use a bridge if one were available to walk between campus and his University City apartment. It takes too long for the crossing light to change, and it does not feel safe, he said.

Recently, he noticed pieces of a broken car headlight scattered at the corner.

“That’s something you don’t want to see in a corner you’re standing in,” Gonzales said. “I usually stand behind the pole now to stay safe.”

FDOT and its consultants plan to remove the existing marked crosswalks on Southwest Eighth once the bridge is finished, though it is unclear whether cyclists and pedestrians will be blocked or prohibited from crossing at street level.

In the five years since the collapse, meanwhile, the cost of construction and materials such as steel and concrete has risen sharply. Hard construction costs for the new bridge amount to $18.2 million, according to FDOT and BCC Engineering. That figure is a substantial increase over the initial $16 million estimate and the approximately $14 million construction budget for the first bridge.

But the Sweetwater official responsible for the execution of the University City plan since the mid2000s said the bridge is essential to ensuring the safety of the thousands of new residents who will be crossing between the city’s rapidly redeveloping downtown and FIU.

“It’s imperative,” explained Robert Herrada, Sweetwater’s assistant city manager and chief of staff to its mayor. “Safety is paramount. That is ideally achieved by a bridge.”

New Bridge to Honor Victims

Last March, FIU dedicated a memorial on campus to honor the victims: a 7-ft.-tall bronze sculpture of Alexa Duran, the 18-year-old student killed, and five lamp posts surrounding it to represent the five other people who died. They were Alberto Arias, age 53; Brandon Brownfield, 39; Rolando Fraga, 60; Oswaldo Gonzalez, 57; and construction worker Navaro Brown, 37.

FDOT installed a bronze plaque at the corner of Southwest Eighth and 109th Avenue in front of FIU’s Nicklaus Children’s Ambulatory Surgery Center and Red Parking Garage. The plaque will be moved to the new bridge once it is finished. On it are the names of those killed with individual messages about each person.

Atop the plaque, it reads: “You will always be remembered.”  www.rjvequipment.com

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