Tourism officials have said that the bridge detour over Garcon Point Bridge in Santa Rosa County for the past few months has affected some tourists plans by making it more difficult to travel between Pensacola and the beach. However, the biggest impact has come from locals avoiding taking weekend trips to the beach.
Escambia County Commissioner Robert Bender, whose district covers the beach, said Memorial Day weekend traffic can be difficult to gauge because so many people carpool in groups or stay out at the beach for events such as the annual LGBT Memorial Weekend Pensacola celebration.
Still, he said, the traffic counts seem to be rising close to the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019.
I m so happy for Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, state Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, said early Friday morning, moments after the bridge opened. This is just in time for Memorial Day weekend.
The limited reopening comes a few days before the Florida Department of Transportation s Memorial Day week estimate and allows for the large crowds anticipated this weekend to use the bridge and bring traffic back through Gulf Breeze for the first time since fall.
As of Friday afternoon, Pensacola Police Department spokesman Mike Wood and Gulf Breeze Police Chief Rick Hawthorne said there hadn t been any issues with traffic on the bridge as motorists largely stuck to the speed limit and drove cautiously.
Nearly 1,000 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits saying Skanska was negligent in its actions before the hurricane because it didn t follow its own hurricane plan to move the barges to a safe location. Those cases are ongoing in state and federal court.
Consistent with the requirements within the construction contract with Skanska, FDOT will continue to withhold payments of $35,000 per day until four lanes of traffic are restored to the entire southbound span of the Pensacola Bay Bridge.
During the bridge outage, the Garcon Point Bridge has served as the primary detour for traffic between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. Gov. Ron DeSantis has kept the toll on that bridge lifted since then.