For more than a year, sailors and elected officials have expressed concerns about Brightline running up to 32 trains.
Sailors like Howard Mason, who lives on a boat docked just west of the bridge, find it a nuisance.
“It opens and closes many times a day, creating a major disruption to maritime traffic,” Mason said.
He remains hopeful that the bridge will be replaced with something taller and newer.
“I’ve heard they want to make the bridge higher, and I think that’s a good thing. But I don’t think the taxpayers should be responsible for finding the money,” he said.
Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC) and the city of Stuart are working on a project to make that happen.
If built, the new proposed bridge would have a clearance of 17 feet, much higher than the current 6 feet.
This week, the project hit a roadblock.
Sailors like Howard Mason, who lives on a boat docked just west of the bridge, find it a nuisance.
The City of Stuart told WPTV that FEC recently applied for funding from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) but did not receive it.
Barron’s Cassandra Garcia asked the FRA if the grant had been denied. They told her that “projects will be selected on merit according to evaluation criteria.”
“It’s frustrating. It’s very difficult for sailors to get through that bridge, so I’m hoping something can be done about it,” Mason said.
The total cost of the bridge will be $218 million. Last December, Stewart received a $130.5 million grant in funding.
WPTV has asked both the FEC and Brightline for comment on the FRA’s decision and whether they plan to apply for next year’s funding round, and is still waiting to hear back.
In the meantime, Mason hopes the FEC doesn’t give up on building a new bridge.
“That bridge has been here for probably 100 years, or close to that. When it was just freight trains, it didn’t have that many trains in a day,” Mason said.
More from WPTV’s coverage of the St. Lucie Railroad Bridge:
St. Lucie River Railroad Bridge St. Lucie River Railroad Bridge Lucie County Bridge on April 14, 2023. png brightline train
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