Several bridges in Miami Beach need repair, some with missing concrete and exposed rebar

MIAMI BEACH, Florida. – A South Florida man discovered something terrifying on his boat in a Miami-Dade Canal.

Exposed rebars and missing chunks of concrete are what Michael Solano captured in a cell phone video from his boat as he passed under 17th Street in Miami Beach.

The canal, which he has traveled since childhood, runs parallel to Dade Boulevard.

“It looked like the bridge was about to fall apart,” he said. “Chunks fell out, the reinforcement was completely exposed.”

The Local 10 Drone was brought in for investigation and it confirmed what Solano saw, flakes, splinters and pieces of missing concrete and exposed rebar on the underside of the bridge.

“Big trucks go over this bridge, lots of cars go over this bridge,” said Solano.

After the tragic events at Surfside and the fatal collapse of the FIU bridge, Solano believes these problems are far from water under the bridge.

“I have a feeling that people will always have this constant fear,” he said. “Somebody should go out there, check it out, make sure it’s really safe. Better to know than to find out the hard way later. “

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17th Street Bridge is one of 44 in Miami Beach that the public drives over. The city maintains two dozen of these bridges.

A city spokesman told Layron Livingston of Local 10 News that the Florida Department of Transportation inspects all of these bridges twice a year.

17th Street Bridge was last inspected in June.

City inspectors also went out in September and found “increased chipping” compared to previous inspections.

Despite the so-called “deterioration of the top and bottom of the deck, the prestressed concrete piles and a reinforced concrete cap” by the city, FDOT decided that the bridge was “acceptable” for the time being. It is in need of repair, but not urgent.

Local 10 News was told that the city is working to plan funding for these repairs, which could begin as early as next fall.

The city told Local 10 News that Bridges 73rd and 77th Streets are both in the design phase.

Repairs can be expected in the next three years.

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The same goes for the Henedon Avenue Bridge over the Biscayne Point Canal.

A recent inspection of the Pine Tree Lane Bridge to La Gorce Island revealed that it too needs to be repaired.

Repairs have already been carried out where 77th Street crosses the Biscayne Point Canal.

Loose concrete under the Star Island Bridge was also recently repaired.

Copyright 2021 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.

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