JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A half a year after 48-year-old William Maddox drowned when his pickup truck was knocked over the side of the Buckman Bridge, Florida Department of Transportation is studying -- among other things -- whether the height of the guardrails should be increased.
The study to see if the bridge can be made safer began about two months ago and comes as a project begins assessing the overall structural integrity of the bridge and doing maintenance.
Starting this week, construction workers will be working on the bridge -- checking pillars and concrete for erosion. Crews will also be repainting the bridge, which was built in 1970.
"It's an older bridge -- not as old as some others," FDOT spokesman Ron Tittle said. "But this is an ongoing process. We get reports from our engineers and bridge department to make sure they have a schedule to check the bridges and maintain the bridges, and all of them have to be painted after a certain time to prevent the corrosion. We want to prevent it before it starts happening."
The engineers' report on safety issues should be ready by August.
"They're going to look at everything," Tittle said. "It's a mathematical study, if you will, so they'll look at all the statistics, review all the crash data. They'll look at the time of day, the speeds -- average speeds. We've got more than 120,000 people per day traveling the Buckman Bridge, so they'll take all of that to see what is best for this bridge in the way ahead."
While awaiting the results, FDOT has partnered with with the Florida Highway Patrol to try and slow down traffic on the bridge.
"Florida Highway Patrol put out signs that the speed limit will be enforced -- monitored by the law enforcement aviation -- to help folks from speeding on the bridge," Tittle said.
Tittle has even sent public concerns to the engineers to keep in mind.
While FDOT said the guardrail isn't what killed Maddox, Tittle said if the truck hadn't gone over the side, it could have gone back into traffic, causing multiple injuries or deaths. For that reason the engineers are tasked with studying all kinds of accidents that happen on the bridge.
Improvements recommended by the current study could fit into planned upgrades to the bridge in the future to create express lanes.