State removes some bridge pilings - county says there is work left to do

County officials say that the Department of Transportation has removed at least 5 pilings from the old St. George Island bridge which were posing a hazard to boaters – but county commissioners say the job is not yet complete. The County learned in March that the pilings for the south end of the old St. George Island bridge were not fully removed when the bridge was demolished in 2005; instead they were broken off just below the waterline. The county demanded that the Department of Transportation complete the work before someone was hurt or killed. The Department has also put in a number of markers that show the alignment of the old bridge but those markers don’t specifically mark where the pilings are. Commissioners say they feel the markers are useless anyway because you can’t see them in the dark, and they feel the state still has work to do removing more pilings before the area is safe for boaters. Commissioners said Tuesday they would like a timeline from DOT on when all of the pilings will be removed and they want the state to check the north end of the bridge too to make sure no pilings were inadvertently left in the water there.