A highly anticipated Thursday morning meeting between Fort Walton Beach officials and the Florida Department of Transportation was abruptly canceled late Wednesday.
“I have no idea why they canceled,” Ted Corcoran, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday afternoon. “I can’t even hazard a guess if there’s anything to read between the lines.”
District 3 DOT Secretary Tommy Barfield said scheduling issues would have prevented him from having key staff present.
“Given the importance of this project, I felt like it’s important to have the right people there,” Barfield said.
Replacing the Brooks Bridge “could be a billion dollar project,” Barfield added.
He said he estimated that cost after seeing an aerial map showing how many homes and businesses lie near the existing bridge.
“The right of way costs could exceed the cost of construction,” Barfield said.
Thursday’s meeting had been set up to discuss a pending $3.5 million project development and environmental study to examine the best strategies to replace Brooks Bridge.
The U.S. Highway 98 bridge that links Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island is overcapacity and, at 47 years old, nearing the end of its design life.
Fort Walton Beach officials and chamber representatives were surprised Dec. 20 when Barfield announced plans to replace the bridge.
They were shocked to hear how much of the city’s downtown could be affected by a new bridge.
While Barfield said his staff viewed Thursday’s meeting as simply an opportunity to “discuss the process” of the bridge study, Corcoran called the gathering crucial.
“This is where we learn what options our community has,” he said. “We can’t move forward until we learn from FDOT if we have other options” than the replacing the bridge, he said.
“Right now, the only option on the table is one that could destroy our downtown,” Corcoran said. “We need to see where our other options are so our downtown is not destroyed.”
DOT planner Jim DeVries notified Corcoran of the meeting cancellation at 4:52 p.m. Wednesday. Corcoran said agency officials had not immediately responded to his efforts to reschedule the session.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
