Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/277189
If you were driving down Fruitville Road or near Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) on Wednesday night, March 5, you might have witnessed a very special delivery, hospital rep- resentatives say: A 73-foot-long, 25,400-pound prefabricated pedestrian bridge arrived by police escort about 10 p.m. that day. The bridge is being constructed between SMH's South Parking Garage and Medical Arts Building, according to a news release. "Last week's delivery was a spectacular sight," Kim Savage, the hospital's senior communications editor, wrote in the release. The aluminum connector was assembled at the Mullet's Aluminum facility on Ponder Avenue in east Sarasota County and then transported by a heavy haul expert down Fruitville Road and Tamiami Trail to the hospital's main campus, Savage explained in the release. A work crew spent several hours placing it between the South Parking Garage and the Medical Arts Building near the 1900 block of Arlington Street and Laurent Avenue, she added. Adjacent roads were closed during the placement, but they had reopened by 6 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, Savage noted. Work on the structure will continue for the next few weeks, she wrote. "Although there may be periodic lane clo- sures, there are no daytime road closures planned and the construction will not impact the hospital's Emergency Care Center on Arlington [Street] or impede emergency res- cue vehicles," she noted in the release. "The South Garage also will remain open 24/7." SARASOTA MEMORIAL TAKES RECEIPT OF UNUSUAL SPECIAL DELIVERY A crane maneuvers a new pedestrian bridge toward its destination at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Photo courtesy Sarasota Memorial Hospital Sarasota News Leader March 14, 2014 Page 74