SANTA ROSA BEACH — Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad crossed U.S. Highway 331 off his bucket list Friday.
He told visitors at a groundbreaking ceremony for a second bridge over Choctawhatchee Bay that widening U.S. 331 was that important to him, Walton County spokesman Louis Svehla said.
State Senate President Don Gaetz also was on hand for the groundbreaking, and spoke later of how important a second two-lane bridge will be economically and in the event of a hurricane evacuation.
“For 40 years the people in Walton County have struggled with how to get across Choctawhatchee Bay to work and to school and to escape when there were hurricanes,” Gaetz said. “Today the conversation stopped and the digging began.”
Skanska USA Civil Southeast signed on to design and build the 2.2 mile bridge for $118.5 million. Construction will coincide with the next phase of widening of U.S. 331, the county’s primary north-south road.
The county hiked its sales tax by a half-cent to raise money to pay off what was expected to be its $75 million portion of the cost. But Skanska came in well under the cost estimate and the DOT has returned $50 million to the county.
The new bridge will run parallel to the Clyde B. Wells Bridge. Construction will begin early next year and is scheduled for completion in 2015.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.