A Bridge or a Tunnel for Fort Lauderdale?

It’s being called the “great train debate” in Broward County.

Should the Florida East Coast Rail line which now accommodates Brightline and in the future could also handle commuter rail (The TriRail Coastal Connection has been consistently put off but still should happen at some point).

Right now the rail line runs over a draw bridge crossing the New River and that is a significant impediment to frequent rail service. The current Fort Lauderdale station for Brightline is north of Broward Blvd.

Broward County Commissioners favor a higher bridge over the river, but one which would still need to open for larger boats and yachts. The City of Fort Lauderdale led by Mayor Dean Trantalis wants a tunnel which will cost an estimated $3 billion to build and about the same to maintain over the next 50-60 years.

The estimated cost of a tunnel is far greater than that of a bridge – though in my view the costs of the bridge have been underestimated in order to build momentum for this “cheaper” option. A federal grant would cover the cost of the bridge while it covers only a portion of the tunnel costs. While no one wants higher taxes, Broward County already passed a transit project tax which to this point has helped improve bus service but had done nothing with train-styled commuter or mass transit.

A new bridge would span about 1 1/2 miles with its approaches and may necessitate the move of Fort Lauderdale Station (pictured above). It would also obscure the views of downtown and perhaps be an eye sore. The Tunnel would be close to three miles and without question would force the relocation of the current station, probably to either south of Davie Blvd or north of Sunrise Blvd. That would no doubt be disruptive but probably worth the trouble in my estimation.

The new bridge would placate marine interests while not really improving the public or mass transit options. Less frequent bridge openings don’t impact the trains per se currently because the present bridge (built in the late 1970’s) remains up but then is lowered for Brightline, CSX or FEC crossings, on schedule each day. But the bridge bring down more often at a higher level will allow less disruption to marine traffic.

Quite frankly I think a “no build” option might be better than building a new bridge. Much like the higher bridge that was built on 17th Street in the late 1990’s, you’d be going from one type of draw bridge to another – less frequent openings to be sure but still not solving the problem for what should be a high density, public transit line. While it would make marine interests happier, the current situation isn’t in any way catastrophic for them .

Building a tunnel which will allow for future growth of higher-speed and commuter rail is the only way to go here.