Work on 2nd Tamiami Trail bridge to start, goal is more water into Florida Bay
An Earth Day event in Everglades National Park served as the launch for a bridge project intended to bring more fresh water to the park's Florida Bay.
Construction of the 2.6-mile bridge on the section of U.S. 41 known as the Tamiami Trail could begin later this fall after a contract is finalized. The bridge budgeted to cost $180 million will allow significantly more water to flow through the eastern Everglades into the national park and on to Florida Bay.
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell joined other government officials and restoration advocates Friday for the kickoff of the bridge construction.
The site of the new bridge is near Everglades Safari Park, about four and a half miles west of a one-mile bridge opened in March 2013 to start the process of restoring historic water flows.
"For nearly a century, Tamiami Trail has cut off the natural freshwater flow that makes the Everglades one of the richest ecosystems on Earth," said Julie Hill-Gabriel, Everglades policy director for Florida Audubon. "Each bridge on Tamiami Trail brings us one step closer to true restoration."
The 2.6-mile bridge is the first major construction in the "Tamiami Trail Modifications: Next Steps Project" that will draw funds from both Florida and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Gov. Rick Scott in 2013 pledged $30 million annually for three years of matching funds once Congress approved the federal share.
"The next phase of Everglades restoration is to reconnect Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, allowing lake water to flow south under these newly constructed bridges to reduce the billions of gallons of fresh water wasted annually and prevent occurrences of 'zombie grass' in Florida Bay," said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive of the Everglades Foundation.
The one-mile bridge was hailed as an important first step but scientists said it alone would not be enough to preserve a southern Everglades "dying of thirst."
Tamiami Trail's construction as the first road to directly link Miami to Tampa had the unintended effect of blocking water flow, which caused a massive drop in populations of water birds and turned the historically brackish Florida Bay into a more saline environment.
"With the bridging completed so far, water is flowing back to the park, just as it did nearly 100 years ago before the road blocked its way," John Adornato, regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association said Friday. This "progress brings us closer to the completion of the full 6.5 miles of bridging along Tamiami Trail."
This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Work on 2nd Tamiami Trail bridge to start, goal is more water into Florida Bay."