ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Since Karen Lee moved to her Roser Park home a few years ago, she’s experienced the same inconvenience pretty much the whole time.
Just around the corner from her house, which is just a few minutes from downtown St. Petersburg, the 9th Street South Bridge over Booker Creek is being replaced.
“We have one lane open, obviously, which is good,” said Lee. “But it does get to be very congested.”
In 2021, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) selected American Empire Builders, a Miami-based contractor, for the project.
Roughly three years later, neighbors like Lee said they are concerned because the work has drastically slowed.
“Actually, over the past several months, it’s more often been stopped than it has been worked on,” Lee said.
In a Wednesday bulletin, FDOT said it is aware of the delays.
“We are actively working with the contractor and their surety company on a recovery plan to complete the project in a timely manner,” the department posted on the project website.
Lee hopes that will be the case.
“You look at the Howard Frankland, and that thing’s moving along at a great clip — and this is massive,” she said. “And here, we’ve got a little bridge, and they can’t seem to finish it up.”
The bridge replacement on 9th Street South is just one of the projects American Empire Builders is working on in the area.
As it turns out, the contractor is also frustrating neighbors in another St. Pete neighborhood just a few miles away at the Bayou Grande Boulevard bridge in Tanglewood, which is just north of Shore Acres.
There, a project to replace that bridge also started years ago but is still unfinished after the deadline.
“Probably lost two years of my life waiting for the stoplight. That’s what it seems like. It’s a big annoyance,” said one neighbor, Dave DeLoye, who lives on a small island wholly dependent on the bridge to access the mainland.
The Tanglewood project was being performed by American Empire Builders for the City of St. Petersburg.
According to a city spokesperson, the contractor was sent a “Letter of Default” on Jan. 19 for failing to complete the project on schedule.
“Our Engineering Director and legal team are actively engaged in discussions to address the contractor’s failure to complete work on time. Additionally, we have been working closely with the contractor's surety bond company to ensure a resolution that aligns with the best interests of the community,” wrote Erica Riggins, a public information officer for the city.
“The City has been coordinating with other qualified contractors that the surety bond company may be able to use to complete the project,” she continued.
The city did not give an updated completion timeline. Neighbors, however, expect it might take a while.
“We hope that it gets done in the next year — year and a half,” DeLoye said.
American Empire Builders was also selected in 2020 to replace three bridges in Palm Harbor: Westwinds Drive over the Westwinds Canal in Palm Harbor, Crosswinds Drive over the Crosswinds Canal in Palm Harbor, and Oakwood Drive over Stephanie's Channel in the Harbor Bluffs subdivision.
According to the county, the Westwinds Bridge was completed in Jul. 2021. However, the Crosswinds and Oakwood Drive bridges are still incomplete.
“The Crosswinds Drive bridge project remains a top priority for the County,” the county posted on its website on Jan. 19. “Completion of the Crosswinds Drive bridge is on hold because the contractor has not met the terms of the contract. The County has made numerous attempts to work with the contractor and its insurance company to get the project back on track, but those efforts have been unsuccessful.”
According to the post, American Empire Builders is in default, and unless a resolution is reached soon, county staff will ask the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners to terminate the contract during a Jan. 30 meeting.
As for the Oakwood Drive project, the county said work resumed on Jan. 18.
ABC Action News reached out to American Empire Builders for comment but has yet to hear back.
