Railway bridge over New River to be locked in down position next month

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The U.S. Coast Guard has approved a request by All Aboard Florida to temporarily lock the railway bridge over the New River in the down position.

The bridge closure will be in effect from Feb. 11 through Feb. 23 as crews repair the trunnion base and replace two outer trunnions that must be milled in place.

"There is never a good time to halt navigation on the New River," said Phil Purcell, CEO/executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. "MIASF is a professional association of marine businesses that understand the necessity of repairing the FEC railway bridge to ensure a failure doesn't occur with the planned implementation of All Aboard Florida/Brightline passenger rail service."

As part of the terms of the agreement, the bridge must return to its regular operating schedule no later than 12:01 a.m. Feb. 23.

"This corridor will continue to be activated with commuters, and our city, county, state, and federal elected officials need to come together and fund infrastructure improvements, particularly a new or additional bridge over, or tunnel under, the New River so that unintended consequences of passenger rail cannot harm the marine industry, which provides an $8.8 billion economic benefit and employment to 110,000 people in the Broward County community," Purcell said.

(This article has been corrected to say that All Aboard Florida requested the temporary bridge closure, not the Florida East Coast Railway.)