Navarre Press is reporting Jim DeVries of the Florida Department of Transportation told members of the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization yesterday at their meeting in Milton that the Pensacola Bay Bridge is “structurally deficient” and must be replaced within six years.
“The bridge is safe, there’s no problem driving on it, but it is a signal that we need to make (bridge replacement) a higher priority.”
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Something else to consider is we may only be one storm away from losing that bridge, and it could happen well before 5, 6 or 10 years (depending who you believe on how long we have to replace the bridge.)
Wasn’t the planning for the new bay bridge scuttled a few years ago due to fighting over the location? Seems like I recall some idiotic plan to go from Scenic Highway to some point north of Oriole Beach, producing horrible traffic problems on both ends. This is like the fabled I-10 extension to I-65, it should have been built decades ago but the two counties can never agree on a location. Given the shenanigans of both BCCs, I would not be surprised if they delay this until the bridge falls down and we are forced to commute via kayak!
Rick,
The report is slightly inaccurate. FDOT plans to begin engineering and design work for the bridge replacement in 2015 or 2016, with estimated completion in 2020. I was present at the TPO meeting when the report was given.
I wonder how they would build a new bridge while still using the current one. Last time they replaced the Bay bridge, they just built the new one next to the old one, which was then converted to a fishing pier after the changeover. But since we’ve just put a brand new fishing pier there, “swapping back” to the old location isn’t going to be an option, and curving around to a new terminus (like they did with the I-10 span over Escambia Bay) would be tricky because the north end of Gulf Breeze is so developed.
Lets see. Bridge built in the 60′s… Been told over and over it needs to be replaced. Until it falls, it won’t be replaced. Silly us, we expect planning by those we elect… We could save a ton of money. lease nwf to Alabama and all of us can move to Destin. Sarcasm and and Logic won’t work. What next?