Photo by Submitted

Smokehouse Bay Bridge design by TY Lin, one of five firms presenting design plans on the bridge's replacement.

Chris Curle / Special to the Eagle

Marco’s next big construction project may be at this bridge, the one between the Winn-Dixie and Smokehouse Bay on North Collier Boulevard. Your input on the project is welcome at a public event, June 22, at Orion Bank.

Photo by Submitted

Smokehouse Bay Bridge design by TY Lin, one of five firms presenting design plans on the bridge's replacement.

MARCO ISLAND — Islanders will have another chance next Monday to have input on what to do about one of Marco’s most traveled bridges, the Smokehouse Bay Bridge on Collier Boulevard next to the Winn-Dixie.

Five architects retained by the city to create potential bridge designs will present their plans in detail for the public on June 22 at Orion Bank, part of its In the Round series. We all can ask questions and compare the costs and benefit of the competing plans.

One consideration is the efficacy of creating a walkway connection between the Esplanade area and the new Veterans Community Park.

You’ll need reservations to attend the Orion Bank event. It’s free and includes refreshments; it starts at 6:30 p.m. Phone 403-5169 to reserve your place.

Is Orion Bank moving Marco Island higher above sea level?

It could be true, we think, after the bank’s Vice President and Marco Branch Manager Keith Dameron recently completed his second but probably not last Shred Day at the bank.

You’ve read about both those events in the Eagle. You may have been among the many people who showed up for the first shred party in March and the second one earlier this month.

Who knew there was so much sensitive paperwork on the Island that people didn’t just toss unshredded?

Dameron and the shredding company that handles the project were surprised when they processed more than three tons of paper that day in March.

Now they’re startled by the volume that went into the shredder truck this time, said Joe Offnick, general manager of the Shred It company.

“When we dumped the truck the weight was 4.1 tons of shredded paper. This one blows the (first) party out of the water.”

So does that mean Marco Island is now more than seven tons lighter than before the Shred It folks and the Orion bank people conspired to lighten our load?

If so, how much more weight could we make go away with a little civic effort? We’re just saying that this is a good time of year to be thinking of our sea-level situation.

Maybe the library could stock only paperbacks until the end of hurricane season, storing all those heavy hardcover books on the mainland for a few months.

Maybe the Marco Police could tool around town on Segways or in those electric GEM cars until autumn, storing the heavier vehicles on the other side of the bridge in the meantime.

Maybe the parasail concessionaires on the beach would donate free sky rides to anyone weighing more than 100 pounds all summer. Long, long rides up, up and away.

We could ban performances on Marco by heavy metal rock bands until after Thanksgiving. This definitely would not apply to the Marco Strummers.

The possibilities are endless. So is this article.

emails: chris@chriscurle.com and don@donfarmer.com

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