Mast challenges Coast Guard on Brightline, boater access to St. Lucie River railroad bridge

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast challenged Coast Guard officials Tuesday about equitable use of the St. Lucie River railroad bridge — between boaters and Brightline — as the company moves closer to running up to 32 passenger trains a day over the waterway.

Mast, R-Fort Pierce, questioned U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan during a House Coast Guard and Maritime Subcommittee meeting about the amount of time the bridge would be closed to boaters once Brightline begins scheduled passenger service between West Palm Beach and Orlando International Airport this year. That be could be 9½ hours of the day, he said.

He asked Fagan repeatedly if she believed that was equitable, and cut her off when she failed to give a direct answer.

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Mast noted that it takes “a minimum of 18 minutes just to get that bridge to go from open, where boats can go through, to closed to back open again.”

“Over a 15-hour window of the day … they’re closing off the waterway 9½ hours of the day out of 15 hours. Is that equitable to the community whose resource that is?” Mast asked.

Coast Guard to study 'use pattern and data'

The Coast Guard wants to study “the use pattern and the data” for six months to create a bridge schedule that works for both users, Fagan said.

“The waterway users are entitled to their access to navigation. The bridge user is entitled to their access to the bridge. How that schedule is created will matter. The waterway users may have higher demand during certain periods of the day ... " Fagan said until Mast cut her off and continued questioning her over equity.

The back-and-forth demonstrated the ongoing tensions between Treasure Coast residents and Brightline and Coast Guard officials as the railroad quickly approaches the start of regular passenger service between South Florida and Orlando. That could come as soon as June, according to Brightline documents.

Tuesday's faceoff between Mast and the Coast Guard came against the backdrop of Brightline's first closings of the bridge. Beginning Sunday and lasting through April 28, the 98-year-old bridge has been closed 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly for renovation work. After that, Brightline will close the bridge 24/7 for continued work for three weeks beginning May 1.

Lina Ruiz is TCPalm's watchdog reporter for Martin County. You can reach her at lina.ruiz@tcpalm.com, on Twitter @Lina_Ruiz48 or at 321-501-3845.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Rep. Mast questions access of St. Lucie bridge for Brightline, boaters