Critical for space industry: NASA Causeway replacement bridge opens

Jun 09, 2023

Just before 10:40 a.m. Friday, Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez rolled in a black Ford Expedition beneath a large U.S. flag suspended above the first, newly built NASA Causeway high-level bridge, marking a milestone in mainland-to-Cape space-related ground transport.

Construction kicked off in December 2021 on the $126 million NASA Causeway replacement project. Work crews are replacing the smallish 1964-vintage causeway — complete with outdated drawbridge — with twin high-rise fixed bridges towering 65 feet above the Indian River Lagoon.

Urgency to replace the aging, low-level bascule bridges and drawbridge accelerated after a 2017 NASA engineering study warned they could become too unsafe to support heavy spacecraft and freight loads.

Now, Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro said the new eastbound bridge has been completed about 125 days ahead of schedule, and on budget. The bridge spans 4,025 feet across the lagoon.

During Friday's ribbon-cutting ceremony, Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello called the new NASA Causeway "critical infrastructure for Florida's space ecosystem."

"It provides a modern transportation link built for today's space industry and its workforce. And it will enable the safe, swift and efficient movement of vehicles, payloads and other vital assets essential for the advancement of the nation's space missions," DiBello told the crowd.

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Spanning the Indian River, the NASA Causeway provides a direct east-west link from Titusville and State Road 405 to the KSC Visitor Complex, the sprawling space center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Friday's ceremony celebrated the opening of the four-lane eastbound bridge, which will be temporarily used for two-way traffic.

"The next milestone on this project will obviously be the next bridge. So we're at the halfway point with this bridge. We're going to open it to traffic. You'll immediately begin to see the old bridge and old structure being demolished so that we can build up another new structure," Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said.

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FDOT officials expect crews to complete the second, westbound bridge by early 2026.

Petro said United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Delaware North advocated for the NASA Causeway replacement project.

In 2019, Space Florida, NASA and FDOT teamed up to secure a $90 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to cover the lion's share of the project, Nuñez said.

Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or [email protected]. Twitter: @RickNeale1

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