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September 18, 2004
By GAVIN OFF
Staff Writer
goff@sun-herald.com
ENGLEWOOD, Florida -- It's one project after another for the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority. A new toll plaza. Bridge maintenance studies. New toll prices. A new administration building. And a new Web site www.giba.us.
The bridge authority launched the new site recently, containing information on tolls, weight limits and weather, including tides, temperature, winds, barometer readings and real-time photos. It's all a public service effort, said Jim Cooper, bridge authority executive.
"We want to provide as much information as we can because everyone benefits from it," Cooper said.
The site was up just weeks before Hurricane Charley struck. It gave Charlotte County's Emergency Operations Center up-to-the-minute eyes on West County. "The timing was great," Cooper said, "not that we wanted to have a hurricane."
It also helped people halfway around the world. Cooper said people as far away as Great Britain called the bridge authority to see how Charley affected the area. They could have just logged onto the Internet.
The bridge's Weather Hawk system measures everything from humidity and rainfall to solar radiation, wind speed and direction. Charley's top gust across Boca Grande's bridge clocked in at 95 mph; Frances' measured 62 mph, according to the site. The site also includes information on tolls, which beginning in October increase to $4, and weight limits, which are 34,000 pounds for two-axle vehicles and 40,000 pounds for vehicles with three or more axles. The Web site also has links to the National Hurricane Center and local forecasts.
"It's all there in one tight little package," Cooper said.
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