Kelly Hayes
St. Petersburg will be closing 40th Avenue NE starting March 1 in order to begin its final phase of reconstruction to build a new bridge.
The 40th Avenue bridge, located between 12th Street NE and 13th Way NE, will be closed beginning at 6 a.m. and will remain closed for an estimated three to four weeks.
The closure will allow for demolition of the current bridge, as well as for crews to start assembling and positioning construction equipment for the new bridge.
The bridge connects the mainland in St. Pete to Shore Acres and is a key crossing point for residents.
The city discovered hidden structural issues with the 57-year-old bridge in 2017 and has since limited weight capacity on the bridge, changed the travel patterns on the bridge to utilize outside lanes and reduced the speed to maintain safety and keep the bridge open while plans to replace it were formed.
Around the same time last year, the city closed the bridge to replace sections of the center span of the deck to widen the usable area of the existing bridge so travel lanes could be improved and a pedestrian crossing added.
The total estimated cost of the project sits at $15.4 million.
