Westbound span of Pensacola Bay Bridge is open. PPD has already made 21 traffic stops.

It might not be the most romantic Valentine's Day gift, but it's one that Pensacola and Gulf Breeze commuters have surely been longing for.

After years of construction, both spans of the new Pensacola Bay Bridge are finally open to traffic.

The westbound span of the bridge from Gulf Breeze to Pensacola opened early Tuesday morning, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

Currently, both the westbound and eastbound spans of the bridge are limited to two lanes of travel while the finishing touches of the bridge replacement project are completed.

In the 90 minutes of the bridge being open, Pensacola police officers made 21 traffic stops, according to a Pensacola Police Department news release. Warnings were issued for minor traffic violations and traffic citations were issued for excessive speeding.

"Officers will be aggressively monitoring the bay bridge for speeding, careless driving and other moving violations for the foreseeable future using marked and unmarked police vehicles," the release said.

At long last: Pensacola Bay Bridge's westbound span on pace to open in January or February

Westbound span of Pensacola Bay bridge gets target opening date. Learn when:

The old Pensacola Bay Bridge reached the end of its effective lifespan in 2010, and work to build a new bridge began in spring 2017. Completion of the project was delayed multiple times, the most notable delay being an eight-month bridge closure to repair damage caused by loose Skanska construction barges during Hurricane Sally in 2020.

The bridge outage forced motorists to travel to the distant Garcon Point Bridge to travel between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. The closure was a financial blow to business owners who saw traffic to their storefronts dwindle to nothing. It was also a time and fuel drain for motorists traveling tens of miles out of their way to get between cities.

Many area residents and business owners are suing Skanska for their losses. In a joint statement, the law firms of Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz; Beggs & Lane; and Levin, Papantonio, Rafferty said Skanska isn't truly finished until it makes impacted local families whole.

"Skanska’s actions cost this community millions and many of our businesses will never recover. They may have finished building the bridge but they have not done anything to right their wrongs to this community," the statement said.

"Their work here isn’t done until they are held accountable. We haven’t forgotten."

State Rep. Doug Broxson led members of the media and local and state dignitaries on a tour of the bridge Feb. 3. During the tour, he acknowledged the many problems that occurred during the bridge build, but said it was important to recognize there were positive outcomes to the project.

"Lot of people's lives were changed as a result of that bridge, we had to all go through a bypass. But today we're celebrating one of the biggest state projects in the Panhandle projects and the crew that stayed there day and night — winter, summer," he said during the tour. "Good, blue-collar workers that we need to celebrate and say thank you for coming to Pensacola. Thank you for giving us a beautiful bridge, and hopefully you'll come back and visit."

While traffic now open on both spans of the bridge, miscellaneous tasks remain to complete the project. These include work on the U.S. Highway 98 tie-ins and median areas, the wayside park in Gulf Breeze, bridge painting, and other final items, according to FDOT.

Completion of the project is currently estimated for this summer.

Upon final completion of the project, each span of the bridge will support three, 12-foot lanes of traffic in each direction, along with inside and outside shoulders, and 10-foot-wide multiuse paths for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The multiuse path on the eastbound (Pensacola to Gulf Breeze) bridge remains open, but the westbound path will remain closed until completed.

Gen. 'Chappie' James Memorial Foundation receives $50K donation to finish memorial plaza

With a construction cost of approximately $440 million, the Pensacola Bay Bridge replacement project is the largest transportation initiative in Northwest Florida history. More than 55,000 drivers travel the bridge daily between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. The modern, six-lane structure replaces a four-lane bridge that opened in 1960.

Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling through a work zone and to watch for construction workers and equipment entering and exiting the roadway.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Bay Bridge to Gulf Bridge Three Mile Bridge fully opens