FEC and Brightline: Stuart railroad bridge to close at night for more work on tracks

Ed Killer, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·2 min read

The railroad bridge across the St. Lucie River in Stuart will be closed in the down position from 12:01 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sept. 10 to perform additional rail joint welding, Brightline and Florida East Coast Railway announced early Friday. If there is a weather disruption to their work, Sept. 11 will be the alternate date.

The Coast Guard approved the changes to the bridge's regularly scheduled operations.

The railroad companies have been closing the bridge intermittently since April to work on the bridge.

A Brightline train is seen crossing the St. Lucie River railroad bridge in Stuart, Fla., in February 2023.
A Brightline train is seen crossing the St. Lucie River railroad bridge in Stuart, Fla., in February 2023.

The bridge schedule and construction alerts are posted on the new St. Lucie Bridge Schedule app and website that FEC and Brightline launched for mariners last month.

The railroad companies also have installed electronic message signs on each side of the bridge, which are connected to the railroad signal system. The signs display a countdown on when the drawbridge will come down as a train approaches and when it will go up again.

Boaters can contact the bridge monitor from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily at VHF Channel 9 or by phone at 772-403-1005. The bridge monitor is stationed in a monitor house the railroad companies built on the tracks.

Brightline also will communicate information through its website, the X social media platform, and its text alert system, for which you can sign up by texting “STL” to 888-384-0037.

Work continues: Railroad bridge to close briefly Labor Day for more repairs

New bridge? Will Brightline replace the 90-year-old St. Lucie River railroad bridge after all?

For three weeks in May, the railroad companies closed the bridge to boat traffic to conduct much-needed bridge construction repairs to the trunnions, which is the machinery that helps the draw go up and down.

In June, the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast installed a webcam at Hudson's on the River focused on the drawbridge.

Brightline has been testing throughout the Treasure Coast and Space Coast in preparation to begin service between West Palm Beach and Orlando later this year. No start date has been specified.

Ed Killer writes about boating issues for TCPalm. Email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: FEC and Brightline: Stuart railroad bridge to close for more work