Once described as visionary, the elevated roadway in the median of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway was designed to add three lanes into downtown Tampa for the morning commute, reversing outbound to Brandon in the evening. The project - estimated then at $372 million - would save commuters about 20 minutes in travel time.

About 7 a.m. on April 13, 2004, workers near the expressway's 50th Street exit reported trembling below their boots.

It felt like an earthquake. It sounded like thunder.

A pier supporting the elevated expansion plunged 11 feet into the earth, and two bridge spans collapsed into a V- shaped mess.

Two workers were injured and at least one windshield was cracked in the collapse of hundreds of tons of steel and concrete.

Today, the bridge is rising once again in the expressway median, including the spot of the accident. But the opening, once scheduled for this summer, is now targeted for July 2006.

Engineers and officials with the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority say an ongoing effort to reinforce the support piers means the bridge is stronger than similar structures.

``If they permit, I will be the first one on it with my wife and three grandkids,'' authority Chairman Thomas Gibbs said. ``I don't have any concerns. I think when they get done, it will be the strongest bridge in the world.''

But the road keeps getting more expensive.

The pier repairs are tacking $99 million to the project, boosting the price tag to more than $52 million per mile.

On Monday, the authority announced it will increase tolls in 2007 - 2 1/2 years earlier than expected - to pay for the mounting cost.

The toll increase may become more of a public relations problem for the authority than lingering safety concerns about the road.

``It's not the commuters' fault, yet we're the ones who keep getting nickeled and dimed,'' Brandon resident Kristin Yarbrough said. ``Take it out of the hides of those who caused the problem.''

Debate over responsibility for the collapse will continue in the year ahead as the authority and its contractors strive to finish the bridge before the second anniversary.

Understanding What Happened

It must have been a sinkhole.

That's what many people thought the day of the collapse.

``As far as we know, it wasn't a design problem or a construction problem,'' Pat McCue, then the authority's executive director, said on the day of the collapse. ``It is a natural occurrence that was impossible to predict.''

Ralph Mervine said he thought the same thing when he heard about the collapse on a business trip in Germany for Arcadis Engineering, where he was working as a vice president.

Seven months later, the expressway authority named Mervine to replace McCue, who lost his job due to mounting problems with the reversible roadway.

In July, a second pier was discovered to have settled 1.3 inches, about a quarter-inch more than state standards allow, halting work as engineers determined whether the bridge could be saved.

During the fall, two investigations were launched to determine what caused the piers to sink: one by URS Corp., which designed the piers; the other by Ardaman & Associates, an independent engineering firm hired by the authority.

In December, a 150-ton hydraulic impact hammer was used to test how much load the piers could handle.

The tests revealed the piers were not designed deep enough for the unstable ground below the bridge spans.

It wasn't a sinkhole.

Ardaman said 56 pilings needed major work and 99 others needed less extensive repair along the 6-mile elevated portion pf the roadway. URS said as few as eight needed extra support.

``If it had been a sinkhole, it might have been simpler,'' URS Vice President Tom Logan said. ``We could have explored for it elsewhere with a lot less borings and a lot less dispute on the basic design. If it was a sinkhole, then you'd worry where else there might be another one.''

Still at issue is whether URS probed deep enough under the piers to design the supports for different soil types. The authority and URS will attempt to resolve the issue during mediation in August.

If not, a lawsuit is likely.

Gibbs, the authority chairman, holds URS responsible.

``As a layman, it seems pretty cut and dried to me,'' he said.

Following Ardaman's recommendation, the authority has drilled hundreds of test borings around the 218 piers since late fall to determine whether reinforcing sister shafts or smaller micropiles are needed for supplemental support.

Both designs stiffen the original piers by drilling footings into the ground around the pier, then connecting all the pieces together with a steel-reinforced concrete cap just below the surface.

Mervine said designing the supports is to be completed by May. That will keep the work a few steps ahead of bridge assembly, which began late last month near the 50th Street site of the accident.

``We just happen to be back at the same point,'' he said Monday. ``It's just a coincidence.''

Views Of Commuters

Yarbrough, the Brandon resident, appears to reflect the attitude of most commuters about last year's collapse and the subsequent problems.

She and her husband, Sean, aren't ruling out using reversible lanes to reach their jobs in St. Petersburg, but they will not be the first in line.

``We often joke when we are stuck in traffic underneath it that maybe we won't take it until after the first good rain. Just to make sure,'' Yarbrough said.

Sandra Moody, executive director of Bay Area Commuter Services Inc., also suspects commuters may be a little skeptical about using the reversible lanes at first, ``but traffic will get so bad that people will be willing to try anything.''

The nonprofit commuter assistance group is supported by the Florida Department of Transportation, which loaned $110 million to get the reversible lanes project started.

Outside Tampa, the collapse is ``generally regarded as a tragedy,'' said Peter Samuel, editor of Toll Roads Newsletter in Frederick, Md.

``It was a terrific concept, but it got messed up in the execution,'' he said. ``It looks beautiful and is so much of an advance over what state [transportation departments] usually do, which is take 20 years and widen both sides of the road.''

Other projects, such as Boston's ``Big Dig,'' have been plagued by construction deaths or more expensive scandals, Samuel said.

``This happens more with tunneling projects,'' he said. ``Engineering is not a perfect science. Hopefully, they will recover.''

But Brent Schnell, 29, of Brandon, said the project has ``wasted way too much money'' just to shave 20 minutes off the rush-hour commute.

``Education is always hurting, or they could use the money to improve existing roads,'' he said. ``They always seem too hot on building new roads.''

Public Outreach Planned

Mervine, the authority's interim executive director, said the agency will begin public outreach about the safety and benefit of the road as completion nears this time next year.

He and other authority officials are relieved by the support they've received from local government, civic and business groups backing the project.

``I'll have no problem using the crosstown,'' said George T. May IV, chairman of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce. ``It is unfortunate we've had these delays, it's been a headache that's been extended. But we hope they can be as successful as before the collapse, maybe finish before the expected date.''

Most of the criticism of the authority's initial handling of the accident has calmed, as have suggestions of merging the local agency with the Florida Turnpike Authority.

``A lot of time was lost early on with finger-pointing and efforts to assign responsibility,'' said state Sen. Tom Lee, R- Brandon, president of the Florida Senate. ``Last fall the authority turned the corner.''

Lee wants to be sure the authority repays the $110 million it owes to the state so the money can be used for other projects. The authority is to issue $215 million in bonds by July to repay the debt and cover repairs.

The state turnpike authority might be able to finish the reversible lanes without a toll increase, he said, but that has to be balanced against losing the Expressway Authority's local control.

Commuters ``are going to be understandably upset and frustrated and angry'' about the delays and toll increase, Lee said.

``We are where we are, and the Expressway Authority cannot roll back the clock,'' he said. ``Our duty is to work out of the problems. Being in denial will do us no good.''

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 259-7691.