JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Mayor John Peyton said Friday that the Florida Department of Transportation has agreed to dispose of the remains of the old Fuller Warren Bridge on land rather than at the bottom of the river.

Peyton said FDOT Secretary Jose Abreau called him to say he'd agreed to "upland disposal."

Regulatory agencies argued the concrete is inert and not hazardous, but river activists were appalled at plans to dump 40,000 tons of the old concrete and steel bridge into the St. Johns River.

Last month City Council passed an emergency resolution to prevent the action, and hundreds turned out for public meetings on the subject.

"It's in violation of the permit; it's in violation of the contract that we signed with ... with the people that were doing the bridge removal," City Council member Jim Tullis said Thursday at a fiery meeting of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission.

"Contrary to what you've heard today, we're not about the business of trashing the river," DOT district secretary Aage Schroeder told the commission.

When debris from the Fuller Warren Bridge was being dumped in the St. Johns River in 2002, federal authorities halted the work. Since then, the state and city have been trying to come to an agreement on how to tear it down.

"They failed to give serious consideration to the environmental impacts to the St. Johns and were completely ignoring the will of the people," St. Johns Riverkeeper, Neil Armingeon, said Friday. "I guess they finally realized that Riverkeeper, the public, and our elected officials were absolutely not going to allow this to happen."

The DOT said it will cost about $2.5 million more to cart away the debris and dispose of it on land. It said will try to have demolition completed before next February's Super Bowl, but cannot guarantee that.