The Florida Department of Transportation essentially has ended debate over how best to tackle the problem of the aging and overcrowded Brooks Bridge.
DOT District Secretary Tommy Barfield announced Friday that the agency intends to replace it.
He said the difficulty in pulling down federal dollars to build an alternative bridge between Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island makes such a project untenable.
“A replacement is a much easier project to fund than a capacity project,” Barfield said.
The news was a shock to Ted Corcoran, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
Just Thursday, Corcoran said, chamber members agreed to “act as a surveyor on whether or not our community feels the need for an additional bridge.”
Barfield’s news “was a total 180 for what we as a body were going to help with,” Corcoran said. “This was totally unknown to us.”
Barfield was in Walton County on Friday morning for a groundbreaking at the U.S. Highway 331 bridge site and traveled to Fort Walton Beach to meet with chamber members, state Senate President Don Gaetz, state Rep. Matt Gaetz and representatives from several cities.
He confirmed that $3.5 million has been set aside for an environmental and engineering study of the Brooks Bridge site and announced that another $900,000 or so would be spent next year to bolster the existing bridge.
“That should buy us a few more years,” he said.
The Legislature must approve the spending.
Don Gaetz said he and his son have agreed to shepherd the funding through their respective chambers.
Gaetz said Barfield explained that replacing the 47-year-old bridge “could be a very expensive project.”
Barfield estimated that purchasing right of way in areas as congested as those on either side of Brooks Bridge could cost as much as the bridge itself.
“You have a bridge that comes out of a dense business district,” Gaetz said.
The DOT study, if funded, will begin in July, Gaetz said. Barfield said it could take about four years to complete.
“We’ll be a couple years in before we’ll begin to see the scope of the project” and get some sort of an estimate on the replacement cost, Barfield said.
“I can’t even guess what the replacement price would be,” he added.
Gaetz said the study will focus on all aspects of replacing the Brooks Bridge.
One detail already known is that federal standards for how steep a bridge can be have changed, Gaetz said. That alone likely will have a bearing on the new bridge’s footprint.
Gaetz said height issues could also enter the discussion. And, of course, community input will be crucial.
“I’ve made it clear that my job, at least until 2016, will be to make sure no design or plan is forced on the community,” he said.
“If the community says we want to replace the Brooks Bridge but don’t want to impact downtown business, we’ll probably have to seek a height exemption,” he said. “Those type things will have to be discussed thoroughly and openly with the community before you can have any draft plan.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.