The price tag for the Sebastian Inlet Bridge replacement project went up.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is replacing the bridge that crosses the Sebastian Inlet, because it was deemed structurally deficient but still safe in 2019, after damage from Hurricane Dorian.
A new, taller, wider bridge is being built east of the existing bridge, and will have a bike and pedestrian walkway, as well as fishing piers. The original bridge will eventually be demolished.
There will be minor traffic impacts because the bridge will remain open during construction; from time to time they will close a lane to get materials on the bridge but will have traffic flaggers.
"Keeping the bridge open is critical to the community up and down the coast," said Brevard County resident Bill Hoffman. He added that, "People go to work from Melbourne Beach south to Vero and vice versa."
And many residents use it frequently enough to know that without the bridge, it would take much longer to get from Sebastian to Brevard County.
WPTV reached out to FDOT about the cost, which also includes a resurfacing project for SR A1A from Sand Dollar Lane to south of the Sebastian Inlet.
While the "current estimated construction cost for the bridge is $92 million," along with the cost of the A1A project — $11.4 million — the total cost would be $103.4 million, in state and federal funds.
In July 2022, the revised construction cost was estimated at $89 million. In July 2021, it was estimated at $55 million.
"We are going to have half of the bridge, the eastern half of the bridge, being constructed while the public can use the roadway or the bridge and then we will demolish the existing bridge and then we will construct the remaining western part of the bridge to make it one bridge," said Binod Basnet of FDOT.
Basnet also explained why the bridge project will be more expensive.
"If it is a single one full construction, that is going to be cheaper. When it is a phased construction, when you do half and half that means there’s more work, so that’s kind of the part where the cost is going to increase," he said.
Work is anticipated to start in spring 2026, with an expected end date of fall 2030.
