The Project Wide Advisory Committee has agreed to move forward with a $1.385 million project to repair damage caused by erosion at the Morse Boulevard Bridge.
PWAC members in a budget workshop Wednesday afternoon decided to move forward with the long-delayed work at the island under the bridge.
The sloughing problem at the bridge has been discussed for years by PWAC members. In 2019, PWAC took a fresh look at the project and agreed last year to spend $130,000 on professional service toward a Geoweb stone reinforced slope.
PWAC members at the budget workshop looked at two options. The cheaper option at $1.04 million would address only the west shoreline. The more expensive option would include the entire shoreline.
“We’ve been waiting on this for several years. We’ve been fighting Mother Nature on water levels. It isn’t going to get any cheaper,” said PWAC Chairman Don Wiley, a Village of Hillsborough resident who also serves as chairman of Community Development District 10.
Wiley pointed out that Morse Boulevard Bridge is critical to transportation in The Villages and there was concern about the impact the Geoweb project will have on traffic.
The work will have to take place during the dry season in the fall/winter season, said Director of Property Management Bruce Brown. The project will take about six months, he predicted. In addition to impacting traffic on the bridge, it will force the closure of Sunset Park, the golf cart accessible parking lot where Villagers frequently gather.
Wiley said it was important to remind residents there is nothing wrong with the bridge, which was named after John Parker, who was critical to the early development of The Villages.
“There is no problem with the bridge. There never has been. This is an erosion problem. Mother Nature is smarter than us. She always has been,” Wiley said.
