Duck Key residents want answers as bridge contractor nears default date

Photographed on the morning of Aug. 28, the Seaview Drive bridge on Duck Key is nowhere near completion as its contract expiration date of Sept. 4 approaches. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

By Alex Rickert | August 29, 2024

It was January 2021 when Monroe County began the first of three necessary multimillion-dollar bridge replacements on Duck Key. Four summers later, while one of the three projects awaits minor finishing touches, the headaches of plywood bridge surfaces, detours and temporary one-way traffic patterns are still a way of life for the island’s residents. And starting this week, those headaches have official dollar signs attached.

Contracts for the Bimini Drive, Seaview Drive and Harbour Drive bridges, originally valued at $3.18 million, $5.26 million and $5.78 million, respectively, were awarded to American Empire Builders in December 2020, with notice to proceed given in January 2021 for the Bimini Drive bridge. Change orders for the Seaview Drive and Bimini Drive bridges have since added roughly $940,000 to those price tags, including about $500,000 for temporary strengthening on a crumbling Bimini Drive bridge.

According to intermittent updates posted on a dedicated page of Monroe County’s website, the Bimini Drive bridge, the most visible and heavily-trafficked of the three projects, is currently pending minor finishing touches.