Insurance premiums soar for bridges

Because of the Sept. 11 attacks, states are paying more than twice as much, raising their deductibles or dropping coverage for terrorism.

By ALISA ULFERTS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 16, 2002

Forget the cost of added security at airports or building stockpiles of smallpox vaccine. Florida officials are facing yet another big price tag from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: insuring the bridges and overpasses in the state's turnpike system.

The cost could rise from $1.6-million last year to $5-million this year, said Dick Kane, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

But Florida hopes to avoid paying such a high premium for the system's 631 bridges by shopping for a new policy with higher deductibles and more risk, Kane said.

The state hopes to have the new policy by June.

The premium for insuring the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, for example, would increase from $130,884 to about $419,000, said Don MacMichael of the state's turnpike division. Bonds that paid for the bridge require the state to carry insurance for the Skyway. The state is self-insured for bridges not built with bonds.

Florida isn't the only state struggling to deal with higher insurance costs related to terrorism. In San Francisco, for example, it cost $550,000 a year to insure the Golden Gate Bridge before Sept. 11. The premium doubled and no longer covers acts of terrorism, said a spokeswoman for the agency that oversees the landmark.

"This is a national condition. This is not specific to Florida," said John Kozero, a spokesman for Fireman's Fund, one of the insurance companies that has insured Florida's bridges for years.

Not all the higher costs are related to terrorism. The annual premium for insurance on the Veterans Expressway overpass that crosses Independence Parkway in Tampa could increase from $281.30 to about $900, the turnpike division's MacMichael said. The increase was the result of a fiery crash last year in the northbound lanes of Independence, beneath the southbound lanes of the Veterans Expressway. The intense fire charred the overpass, severely damaging three of its eight beams and causing chunks of concrete to fall.

-- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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