PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Neighbors have looked at the mess for so long that they’re almost numb to it now.
But not quite.
In fact, many of them are still fighting to see it cleaned up.
The mess that concerns them is the one that surrounds the Crosswinds Bridge replacement project in Palm Harbor.
“Our property values are being trashed — and literally trashed,” said Bill Sumansky, one of the dozens of neighbors who depend on the bridge to get to their homes.
Sumansky said the work to replace the bridge, which started three years ago, is still not done. More frustrating to him and others, the construction is now on indefinite hold. He said workers stopped showing up to the job site months ago.
“If you caption it as three years of actual construction and four years of mobilization, I believe somebody said that the Empire State Building was built in a year and a half,” he said bluntly. “There you go.”
Pinellas County said the contractor it hired to do the work, American Empire Builders, is now in default.
As ABC Action News reported last week, the contractor has two bridge projects in St. Petersburg, which are also in limbo.
As for the Crosswinds project in Palm Harbor, county commissioners might vote to terminate the contract with American Empire Builders during a Tuesday meeting.
“The sooner, the better,” said Chad Chadwick, another neighbor.
Chadwick also hopes a new contractor will be brought in to finish the job.
“We’re hoping in the next month or so that they get in there and clean it up,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sumansky isn’t just worried about cleaning the mess. He wants to know if the bridge was built right and if construction debris has fallen into the canal below.
The contractor hasn’t answered ABC Action News’ requests for comment.
