For lots of folks commuting to and from West Tampa, the fact that the Columbus Drive Bridge has been down since February 21 has been something they've had to deal with. But as April turned into May, a saving grace was that the structural work to upgrade it would be finished in just a few more weeks.
You can add another month to that "few more weeks."
Hillsborough County officials reported on Friday that as a result of "unexpected replacement work required on additional structural steel elements in the swing bridge," they would need a complete replacement for those structural steel elements, and not just a repair.
That replacement work will add another $100,000 to the $8.7 million cost to modernize the 86-year-old swing bridge.
This article appears in May 3-9, 2012.