Island residents heading to Vero’s increasingly busy airport who typically take State Road 60 and turn north on 27th Avenue will have to choose a different route for the next month or so.
The 33-year-old bridge on 27th that crosses the Main Relief Canal between Atlantic Boulevard and Aviation Boulevard has been closed for renovation and will remain closed until June 14.
Workers with Titan Construction Management of Tarpon Springs are repairing cracks and spalling in the crumbling concrete surface of the 139-foot-long, 41-foot-wide, two-lane bridge, according to Matthew Mitts, public works director for the City of Vero Beach. Workers will also repair the bridge’s guard rails, reinforce the steel superstructure, and restripe the pavement.
The bridge has 5-foot sidewalks on each side.
Most bridges in Vero Beach and Indian River County are owned and maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation. The five bridges that belong to the city are inspected every few years by FDOT, Mitts said. This is the first time that the 27th Avenue bridge, built in 1993, has undergone extensive repairs for spalling, Mitts said.
Funding for the $376,490 repair project will be paid from the city’s five-year capital improvement fund, he said.
The other four city-owned bridges have all been repaired recently, including:
- The bridge from Riverside Park to Veterans Memorial Island, originally constructed in 1964, was replaced in 1988. The new structure began showing signs of deterioration in 2018 and a temporary repair was completed in 2020 for $130,000. In the summer of 2023, the bridge was rebuilt at a cost of $1.7 million.
- The two bridges in Riomar Bay in Central Beach – one on River Drive and the other on Bay Drive – were repaired in 2023 at a cost of $239,240.
- The 34th Avenue bridge over the Main Relief Canal was replaced in 2017 as part of a larger project to improve 34th Avenue/Airport Drive north of route 60. The cost of that project was approximately $950,000.
“Unless something unforeseen happens, the city should not have to expend funds for bridge repairs at this scale for another 10 to 15 years,” Mitts said.
Meanwhile, air travelers and those patronizing businesses near the airport can take U.S. 1 to Aviation and drive past the Old Vero Man site and County Government Center to reach the airfield.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
