STUART, Fla. — A new double-track bridge for the Florida East Coast Railway at Stuart would cost about $218 million and take four years to build, Brightline Vice President of Community Relations Ali Soule told Martin County officials on Tuesday.
WPTV reports Soule appeared before Martin County Commissioners to ask them to pass a resolution supporting construction of the new bridge over the St. Lucie River. A new bridge would address the single-track bottleneck that has become an issue with the impending start of Brightline service because of the conflict between keeping the current bridge down for rail service and up for mariners. The U.S. Coast Guard last week introduced new rules regarding bridge openings that try to strike a compromise between the two sides [see “Coast Guard revises Stuart bridge directive …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 11, 2023].
Soule said there would be a “48-month timeline for design, permitting, and construction” of the new bridge, followed by three months of demolition of the 90-year-old existing bridge. She said the company is seeking a federal grant for about $130 million, with state and private funding likely to provide the difference.
The current bridge has a vertical clearance of just 6 feet, 6 inches when closed, along with a 50-foot horizontal clearance, the TC Palm newspaper reports, and only allows about 22% of marine traffic to pass when the bridge is closed. Plans for the replacement call for a 16-foot vertical and 90-foot horizontal clearance, which would allow about 92% of marine traffic to pass when the bridge is down.
Soule also said Brightline’s service between Orlando and South Florida will now start no earlier than mid-September. The company has yet to announce a start date, but at one time was selling tickets for service beginning Sept. 1; earlier this month, it stopped offering tickets for dates before Sept. 15 [see “Brightline delays new Miami-Orlando ticket sales …,” News Wire, Aug. 7].
Commissioners did pass a resolution in support of the bridge project, after adding an amendment at the request of the marine industry that would include them in planning design, construction, and operation. The TCPalm notes that the Stuart City Commission adopted a similar resolution in June and agreed to oversee grant implementation.
— Updated at 8 a.m. CDT with additional details.
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