BLUEWATER BAY — Twenty years after it opened to motorists, the Mid-Bay Bridge is one of the area’s most vital and heavily-used corridors.
In two decades the 3.6-mile span has allowed millions of locals and tourists to travel over the Choctawhatchee Bay between Niceville and Destin. It has cut commute times, helped energize commerce on U.S. Highway 98 and withstood major hurricanes, fulfilling the role local leaders carved out for it in the earliest planning stages.
“The whole idea was hurricane evacuation,” said retired Air Force Gen. Gordon Fornell, chairman of the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority. “We needed an alternate (route).”
The Bridge Authority was created by the state Legislature in 1986, and by 1992 Indiana-based Traylor Brothers engineering firm had begun construction. The $86 million bridge opened in June 1993.
“That’s pretty good work in a short amount of time,” said Jim Vest, executive director of the Bridge Authority.
Since then, the bridge has enhanced the economic development of Destin and points east, Vest said.
“The timing was right for Destin to boom, if you will,” he said. “It was going to happen anyhow, and the Mid-Bay Bridge kind of connected everything right in the middle there.”
Fornell said the bridge is the result of “a great deal of continual effort” by numerous community leaders.
“It’s been a marvelous civic effort,” he said.
County Commission Chairman Don Amunds said the bridge has improved public safety in Okaloosa County.
“It’s helped us during emergency situations, whether it be tugboats and cranes hitting (Brooks Bridge) or whether it be hurricanes and getting people out of here,” he said. “It’s been a huge blessing.”
The Mid-Bay Bridge also remains controversial. People still criticize its tolls, which have increased twice since the bridge opened.
Others say the bridge has improved commerce and traffic flow but puts too much of a strain on their budgets.
Katy Fields said she uses the bridge only in emergencies.
“I believe it has helped many people and is great for hurricane evacuations,” she said. “If the price to cross were not so much, I too would use it more often.”
Like many residents, Fields said she would like locals to get a discount.
“Locals could use some breathing room,” she added. “The bridge is there to get as many tourists into Destin as possible. Let them pay elevated costs to get there.”
In 1993, two-axle vehicles paid $2 to cross the bridge. That increased to $2.50 in 2004 and to $3 in 2010, according to the Bridge Authority’s most recent annual report.
In 2012, 6.5 million vehicles used the bridge, generating about $15.7 million in toll revenue. An average of 17,877 vehicles crossed the span each day.
While 2012 saw a slight increase over the previous year, bridge traffic has dropped every year since 2006, when it peaked at an average of 20,897 vehicles a day and 7.6 million for the year.
The tolls are critical because they generate money to pay off the bridge’s debt, Vest said.
“The bridge is not paid off,” he said.
Vest said he understands the public’s frustration with the tolls, but likened the bridge to a mortgaged home that’s been refinanced multiple times for improvements.
“We’ve made major improvements,” he said. “We still have $260 million worth of debt.”
The bridge has had three toll booth expansions in its 20 years. The Bridge Authority also is building the Mid-Bay Bridge Connector, a limited-access highway to connect the north end of the bridge with State Road 85 just north of Niceville.
The final portion of the connector is expected to open in early 2014, according to the Bridge Authority’s website.
“(The bridge) has been a big addition to the infrastructure for the whole county. … It was billed as the bridge to nowhere,” Vest said. “That was proved wrong by as early as 2003.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.