Indian River Shores Town Councilman Bob Auwaerter is an avid bicyclist who serves on the board of Bike Walk Indian River County, but he has never pedaled across the high bridge on the Wabasso Causeway.
Not all the way.
“I’ve walked my bike to the apex, then hopped on and rode down the other side,” Auwaerter said, “but only after I’ve looked to make sure there’s nobody coming up behind me.”
The reason for his extreme caution is obvious to anyone who has ever driven over that bridge, which, at its highest point, rises 60 feet above the Indian River Lagoon, providing both picturesque views and catastrophic concerns.
While the less-than-3-foot-high concrete barriers that run along the roadway’s perimeter are low enough to allow drivers and their passengers to view the natural beauty of the lagoon and its shoreline, they’re too low to prevent a bicyclist or pedestrian from being knocked over the edge by a passing motor vehicle.
In fact, local bicycle enthusiasts and county officials complained for years to the Florida Department of Transportation, saying the height of the barriers needed to be increased.
“It’s a tragedy waiting to happen,” Auwaerter said of the potential for disaster on a bridge built solely for motor-vehicle traffic.
FDOT finally responded last summer with a plan to install 3-foot-high fencing atop the existing concrete barriers. After Vero Beach 32963 reported the details of the project, however, residents on the island’s northern tier – especially those living in Orchid and the Shores – protested to their local governments.
They didn’t want their views from the bridge obstructed, particularly by an unsightly chain-link fence that was incompatible with the aesthetics of the span’s surroundings.
“All we’d be missing was the concertina wire,” said County Commission Chairman Joe Flescher, whose district includes the bridge.
So FDOT relented, suspending the fencing project last month and embarking on a search for a more palatable solution.
Billy Caneda, the FDOT spokesman for our region, said last week the agency’s engineers were “still reviewing multiple options,” which included different types of railings and “even modifications to the bridge itself.”
He said FDOT will present its solution to local officials in the next few weeks.
Billy Freeman, staff director for the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, said he hopes to hear from FDOT officials by the end of the month.
“They know the situation, and they’re not going to dawdle,” Freeman said. “They want to find a workable solution. California has had a lot of success with these types of bridges, and I’m sure FDOT will explore some of what has been done out there.”
The California Department of Transportation’s “Bridge Rails and Barriers” reference guide provides several options for transportation projects in coastal zones, offering an array of barriers and railings that provide safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, and also preserve views.
The options include two-, three-, four- and five-bar steel railings mounted either atop concrete barriers or curbs that range from 3 ½ feet to 4 ½ feet in height but provide openings between the rails to not totally block views.
“Where the primary scenic resource is the public view from the bridge deck, the railing should be designed to minimize impairment of such views,” the CDOT guide reads.
“Rail elements should be as thin as possible and should avoid ‘blocky’ forms,” it continues. “In addition to keeping the railing as unobtrusive as possible, the design and materials should be selected to harmonize with the surroundings, while meeting all essential safety requirements.”
Costs will be a factor here, of course, but if FDOT is willing to make “modifications to the bridge itself,” as Caneda said, replacing the concrete barriers with five-bar, curb-mounted steel railings might be the best solution.
We’d get a 4-foot-high railing mounted on a 6-inch curb, and drivers could see above 4 ½ foot railing and through the openings between the bars.
FDOT officials already have indicated the Wabasso bridge’s existing concrete barrier – which was retro-fitted in 2005 – was not configured in the same way as the two Vero Beach bridges to the south and isn’t designed for similar railings.
“Let’s be honest: If that bridge was being built today, it would not be what’s there now,” Freeman said. “You’d have wider lanes, proper bike lanes and sufficient barriers and railings.
“And you’d still have that beautiful view.”
There are no plans to replace the bridge, which Freeman said is still in good condition, structurally. But the status quo is unacceptable.
Certainly, better barriers are needed to make the bridge safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The upgrades, however, shouldn’t end there.
The roadway needs to be reconfigured to provide cyclists and pedestrians with greater protection from motorists – particularly commercial trucks – in the traffic lanes.
“The car lanes are narrow, and you see a tremendous number of landscaping trucks coming eastbound over that bridge in the morning and going back over it westbound in the late afternoon,” Auwaerter said. “And those trucks often have large side-view mirrors that extend out quite a bit.
“If a truck weaves even a little bit,” he added, “someone in the bike lane, which is only about 3 feet wide, could get hit by one of those mirrors and the driver might not even notice it.”
Auwaerter suggested installing rows of plastic dividers between the traffic lanes and bike lines in both directions.
That’s not a terrible idea.
Nor is this: Prohibiting cyclists and pedestrians from using the bridge until FDOT corrects the barrier deficiencies – a suggestion raised by Orchid Town Councilwoman Mary Jane Benedetto last month.
“I don’t know if that can be done, but the last thing we want is for a couple of kids to get knocked into the lagoon before somebody says, ‘What were we thinking?’” Auwaerter said. “Too many times, something’s not a problem until it’s a problem.”
The Wabasso bridge is a problem, at least in terms of the safety of cyclists and pedestrians who cross it.
It’s somewhat ironic, really, that part of that problem is the scenic view offered from atop that bridge – a breathtaking panorama that can distract drivers and cause them to veer to the edge of the traffic lanes, sometimes into the bike lane.
Anyone who even occasionally drives across the causeway has seen it happen.
“Nothing prevents cyclists and pedestrians from using the bridge,” Caneda said.
Nothing but common sense.
