WHY is Government looking to spend a further $1.5 million on another feasibility study of the Causeway when one was completed less than a year ago? That was the question being asked by the United Bermuda Party which feels Government is again showing it is incapable of managing capital projects effectively and timely.

Last month the closure of one of the lanes at Longbird Bridge caused, and continues to cause, daily chaos for commuters from St. George's and St. David's — and there appears to be no immediate solution in sight.

Hot-dip, galvanised reinforcing steel in concrete has been used extensively in bridge building since the early 1950s and one of the first installations occurred in the construction of the Longbird Bridge in Bermuda by the US Navy in 1953.

But the bridge is in serious trouble as Bermuda's highly corrosive environment is literally chewing away at the only link between St. David's and the rest of the island.

In 2005 the bridge would have been past its original predicated life, but for the compressive rebuild done by the Ministry of Engineering in 2000 and 2001. This construction only prolonged the bridge's life by an estimated five or six years.

However, no one anticipated the devastation caused by Hurricane Fabian on September 5, 2003 when the bridge's hydraulics and computers were damaged and parts of the Causeway were washed away.

Following Fabian, the Government and Ministry of Works & Engineering and Housing commissioned a team of international consultants with specialised engineering expertise in bridge/transportation construction, to undertake a feasibility study to replace the existing Causeway and Longbird Bridge at a cost of $1.5 million.

At the time this was $600,000 more than anticipated and then-Works & Engineering Minister David Burch attributed this to the expansion in the scope of "geotechnical and environmental studies and public consultation".

However, the Canadian engineering firm, Associated Engineering, along with OBM International, which had been canvassing opinion on the new crossing, had a contract terminated last August year because "it could no longer meet obligations", according to Senator Burch.

"As the final solution to the Causeway is likely to cost in the tens of millions of dollars this investment will result in a more detailed feasibility study, thereby reducing some of the unknowns during the design stage of the project," Sen. Burch told the press.

Among the options examined at the time, besides rebuilding or upgrading the existing Causeway, were a tunnel and even a new bridge across Coney Island.

Following the termination of this contract, the Ministry of Works & Engineering opted to contract directly with sub-consulting groups and expand the role of expert Ministry staff — a move which Sen. Burch said was more "cost effective".

So far the only move in this direction has been drilling and sampling to determine the strength of the underlying rock by Aardvark Drilling Inc of Guelph, Ontario.

Should the replacement of the Causeway and Longbird Bridge eventually commence, it is estimated that the entire project could cost in the region of $60 million.

This does not include the $11 million the US committed to Bermuda in 2002 as part of the Baselands deal signed in Washington D.C. In this deal the US refused to pay to clean up pollution of its two former bases, but gave the island $11 million for Longbird Bridge, which even then was plagued by mechanical problems.

"If they had acted in a timely manner and used the recommendations that were made, we would be well on the way to coming up with a working solution, but they ignored the urgency of the situation," Shadow Works and Engineering Minister, Jon Brunson said this week.

"The Government's website called www.newcrossing.gov.bm highlights all the study research and feedback that Government has gone through to evaluate the state of the causeway. They looked at possible alternatives to the Causeway and Longbird Bridge scenario and basically did a feasibility study, so I'm not sure the Government wants to undertake another feasibility study."

He said a number of recommendations were made as to how they (Government) can resolve the issue of the Causeway and if Government had acted in a timely manner with the recommendations that came out of this feasibility study, they would have been well along the way to coming up with a workable solution, while work could already have been in progress.

"But they ignored it!" Mr. Brunson said.

Senator Kim Swan agreed, adding that he thought the Government would have made the replacement of the Longbird Bridge and Causeway more of a priority: "Yet we find ourselves at the height of the tourism season, with increased flights to the airport and increased traffic and Longbird Bridge is restricted to one-way traffic."Describing the situation as a "crisis", he urged the Government to move forward with a long-term solution for the Causeway and the bridge, adding that it was "unacceptable" for the Government to expect Bermudians to function over the long-term with the current situation.

"Given the fact that some monies were earmarked in the budget for the replacement of this major bridge in the East End, we hoped that would have been the impetus for the Government to move forward with a comprehensive proposal and timeframe and allocating of funds accordingly. But that hasn't taken place!" he said, adding that the crisis could have been avoided if Government had moved in a more timely manner.