JUPITER, Fla. — Long-awaited good news for drivers who have had to detour for years, the US1-bridge in Jupiter is nearing it’s re-opening. Construction workers have been working around the clock to replace the bridge.
“When this is all said and done, this is going to be one of those iconic structures, that gateway into the town of Jupiter,” said Scott Case, the Senior Project Engineer.
The $122 million project has been in the works since 2021.
“When we started the project, the primary function was to prep the project for the detour route, to get people off the existing structure, there was a lot of intersection improvements. We put in preemption devices at all the intersections and hooked those up with emergency responder vehicles,” said Case. “Now we’re here, since March of 2023, until now, we have demoed an existing structure and put back a new one in the same foot print.”
The new structure comes with some major updates, including safety improvements like a designated section for both bikers and pedestrians, Florida Department of Transportation said safety was top of mind.
“This is a major evacuation route, so one of the major changes is to replace a deficient bridge and to also bring it up to current standards and code regulations for instance the channel widths," Case said. "We’ve raised the bridge 17-feet so that should help eliminate the amount of openings by 44% to 45% easing traffic flow across the bridge.”
Case said the final product will be worth the wait for drivers.
WATCH: US Highway 1 bridge closure in Jupiter creates traffic concerns
“Underneath the bridge, we’ll have an observation deck, this River Walk you see here will connect 1000 North and Tiki,” said Case.
That will come with the final completion of the project. Until then, there are plans to open one lane of traffic in each direction following a testing phase, likely in the first week of January.
“That’s where we have to raise and lower the bridge several times, run through our check list,” said Case. “Still, continue to use the detour, just know that the end is coming, the end is near.”
The project is expected to be fully completed by late 2025. In the meantime, officials are reminding residents to stay patient and cautious as work zones will still be active.
RELATED:
Jupiter
