Buffeted by hurricanes, northwest Florida’s largest-ever infrastructure effort is finally seeing the light at the end of the storm. The three-mile-long bridge across Pensacola Bay is expected to reopen to traffic this spring after an ongoing replacement effort abruptly became an emergency repair job as well.
On Sept. 15, 2020, with Hurricane Sally’s approach to the Gulf Coast bringing gusts in excess of 39 mph, the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) took the routine precaution of closing the bridge across Pensacola Bay to traffic. Nobody knew that it would be at least six months before the crossing would reopen.