Jesse Scheckner
A South Florida bridge project is getting $1 million in state funds after lawmakers agreed to the apportionment during this week’s budget talks.
The money, requested by the town of Bay Harbor Islands in Miami-Dade County, will support the construction of a new Broad Causeway Bridge, a drawbridge that connects the town to the nearby city of North Miami.
After being divided on funding for the project, with the Senate offering $1 million and the House offering half that, the lower chamber matched the Senate’s proposal fully on Monday.
A Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) study on building the new structure to replace the current, 73-year-old one began in November 2022.
It’s a desperately needed replacement, according to Bay Harbor Islands Mayor Joshua Fuller, who told CBS News Miami in August that the town keeps “finding more and more problems underneath the bridge and on top.”
“We’ve been doing everything possible to maintain this bridge patchwork,” he said. “It only lasts so long.”
Miami Gardens Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones and Miami Beach Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe sought the state dollars in matching appropriation requests. Lobbyist David Caserta worked to secure the funding.
The state earmark will be matched with $4.5 million in local funds and a $500,000 federal contribution.
Several more rounds of state funding for the project, in excess of $10 million, will likely be requested for at least five more years, Basabe’s request said. Jones’ request said the project is now in a planning phase, with construction expected to commence Dec. 1 and end by New Year’s Eve in 2032.
Once built, the new, movable, 65-foot-high bascule bridge will feature an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant shared path for pedestrians and cyclists, support a reduction in emergency response time, and improve a major evacuation route.
Bay Harbor Islands will receive the funds and oversee the project, for which $129 million in additional federal funds have been requested, Jones’ request said.
Basabe’s request noted that the Town Council adopted a resolution in November setting aside $16 million in toll revenues for planning and construction, plus a $6 million annual toll revenue supplement for the next seven years.
That resolution said FDOT informed Bay Harbor Islands of its eligibility for a $50 million loan at 1% interest, with the remaining $20 million in local construction costs to be funded from other legally available town revenues.
The total cost of the project is expected to be $257.1 million, according to a letter Town Manager Jenice Rosado sent then-U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last year.
The new funding and bridge replacement undertaking comes more than a decade after an FDOT study of the Broad Causeway Bridge determined it was functionally obsolete and structurally deficient. In 2014, the Town Council approved a $11.5 million contract to repair the structure.
Tolls from the causeway today generate about $12 million a year, Rosado said, “with an expected increase over the next several years to” $18 million.
