Construction Begins on Bridge For Everglades Water Restoration

To break ground on a one-mile bridge on the Tamiami Trail, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland joined officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the State of Florida and the South Florida Water Management District.

The Tamiami Trail is a filled roadbed that cuts across the core of the Everglades and obstructs water movement and wildlife. The bridge will raise the roadway to allow more fresh water to flow through Everglades National Park and into Florida Bay while maintaining vehicle traffic flow between Naples and Miami.

Groundbreaking for the Tamiami Trail bridge (Photo courtesy DOI)

"The Everglades are one of America's most treasured places, but for more than 90 years, the Tamiami Trail has effectively served as a dike, interrupting natural water flows that are vital to the natural ecosystem," said Secretary Salazar.

"Thanks to the hard work of many stakeholders in South Florida, we are building a bridge that will help to restore those water flows while still allowing the Trail to serve its important transportation function for the people of this state." he said.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," said Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. "Many attendees at today's groundbreaking ceremony have battle scars that were inflicted over a 20-year struggle to get this project off the ground. The groundbreaking of the first phase of bridging the Tamiami Trail is long overdue."

He called the bridge "a critical first step" in providing benefits to Everglades National Park, from restoration of natural water flow and re-establishment of a wildlife travel corridor to improving conditions for fish reproduction and wading-bird nesting.

"This project launches us on an exciting voyage to improve habitat in Everglades National Park, provide much-needed jobs to Floridians and enhance recreational opportunities for those who appreciate our way of life in South Florida," Fordham said.

The Tamiami Trail was constructed in the 1920s with the intention of linking Tampa and Miami. The bridge project, which is expected to be completed in May 2013, is located in Miami-Dade County, adjacent to the northern boundary of Everglades National Park.

The process to reach agreement on the bridge was at times complex and time-consuming, involving many stakeholders and subject to rigorous environmental review.

In November, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded an $81 million contract that includes constructing the bridge, and raising and reinforcing an additional 9.7 miles of the trail.

As a major component of the Modified Water Deliveries Project, also known as Mod Waters, the bridge will restore a more natural water flow to Northeast Shark River Slough, a portion of Everglades National Park which Congress added in 1989.

Once completed, Mod Waters will provide a foundation for future restoration projects to increase the quantity, quality, timing and distribution of fresh water to the Everglades. Planning has already begun on the next series of projects that will raise the roadway.

"Other projects to improve the Southern Everglades ecosystem will soon follow including the Picayune Strand Restoration Project in Southwest Florida and the C-111 N. Spreader Canal Project to benefit Florida Bay," said Fordham. "These initiatives will complement land acquired for water storage and filter marshes by the pending U.S. Sugar Corp. land acquisition."

Project designers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have written that the Tamiami Trail bridge project could increase the flow of fresh water into Taylor Slough and eastern Everglades National Park by 70 percent or more. Yet even that flow is far below historic flow levels that originally created the Everglades.

Salazar said that the Obama administration has made Everglades restoration a high priority. The President's economic recovery plan included $117 million for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior to restore habitat and to provide additional fresh water for the South Florida ecosystem.

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