Editorial, Ft. Pierce Tribune November 21, 2001

Hopefully the St. Lucie County Expressway and Bridge Authority, which periodically demonstrated some potential success since its creation in 1984, Is finally and mercifully kaput.

At a meeting earlier this month, the Authority agreed to disband Indefinitely and to await a ruling from the State Department of Transportation on how it should proceed next.

The only alternative, It wold seem, is to "close shop," as suggested by Authority member and county Commissioner John Bruhn. "I don*t see any reason to continue," he said.

Nor do we.

The Authority was created with the specific goal of working to create the Palmer Expressway, a toll road connecting Interstate 95 to U.S.1.

For nearly 10 years, the project was discussed and planned until the state pulled out in 1992 saying that there was insufficient demand for the mad to warrant state funding.

About a year later, the idea came up to link the Palmer Expressway to a new toll bridge at Walton Road over the Indian River Lagoon, to connect Port St. Lucie, to Hutchinson Island.

Later, the Authority dropped the idea for the expressway and focused on the bridge. We initially supported the bridge as a good idea in that it would give Port St. Lucie access to beaches and might aid in evacuation of the island. We withdrew that support, however, when it became clearer that the bridge was not needed for evacuation, that it did not seem financially feasible and that it might cause serious environmental damage. In July of this year, $20 million in state money that had been earmarked for the* Walton Road Bridge was diverted to the proposed West Virginia Corridor in Port St. Lucie.

Shortly thereafter, the Authority chairman, Rudy Howard, proclaimed, "The Authority is not dead. The project is not defunct."

Even at the most recent meeting of the Authority when the decision to indefinitely cease operations was made, Howard said, "This bridge will be built."

And Authority member and Port St. Lucie Council member Jack Kelly said, "The overwhelming majority of the people of this city want this bridge. It*s a sad day, but we*ll be back."

During its history the Authority has raised as much controversy as it has raised hopes for its potential projects. It has been a consistently divisive element on the political scene with little positive to show for its efforts.

We believe the Authority*s role on the St. Lucie County stage has come to an end. We don*t need a curtain tall.