JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a portion of Liberty Street collapsed into the St. Johns River nearly six months ago, an estimate on how much repairs could cost has finally been completed.
According to officials there are two Department of Transportation bridges that need repairs, including the Coastline Drive Bridge that runs from Newnan to Market Street that would cost $12.5 million to repair, and the Liberty Street Bridge, which repairs are estimated to cost $8.8 million.
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The intersection between Coastline Drive and Newnan Street would also have to be repaired for $1.1 million which would bring the grand total for repairs up to more than $22 million.
Work could start as soon as October and take about two years to complete.
Right now, the area remains blocked off, and the Riverwalk near the old courthouse is closed.
But that's not keeping people, including runners, from using the site. Officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office have to explain that the area is off limits.
The city must decide what will happen with the parking lot, the road and the affected section of the Riverwalk. But officials won't know what to do until they can get a good look at what exactly happened under the street, and if the damage can be repaired.
City officials have been working with the Florida Department of Transportation on expediting a design and engineering plan for the site.
Part of South Liberty Street in downtown Jacksonville collapsed into the St. Johns River in February, leaving the Berkman Villas Townhomes without power because of a damaged conduit and transformer. But the townhomes are back up and running with no further problems.
The area previously collapsed in April 2012, but was never fixed. The first collapse was determined to be the fault of a contractor using a 12-ton crane to clean the Berkman Plaza's windows and the city allocated $750,000 for those repairs. Repair work was set to start on that when the latest collapse happened.