Okeechobee Waterway, St. Lucie River Railroad Bridge

[Blissboat]

"The Coast Guard is seeking comment on the updated temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Florida East Coast Railroad Bridge, across the Okeechobee Waterway, mile 7.41 at Stuart, Fla., published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, February 6. This deviation is effective starting at 12:01 a.m. on February 12, 2024."

Here's the link to the USCG announcement:

https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Rel...rary-deviation-for-okeechobee-waterway-st-lu/

 

[High Wire]

Funny how the first bullet says that the bridge will be open except when closed for trains. Duh!
Sitting here in Stuart I get to watch the bridge operating schedule. Fact is that they don’t follow any schedule at all. The bridge is controlled by the Jacksonville FEC office and the tender can only answer questions if asked. He has NO control over operations. The trains have priority over boat traffic. Generally there are 2 Brightline trains with one freight train per hour thrown in. When there are three in a row the bridge will stay down 30-40 minutes. Just this afternoon that happened. Never seen 4 in a row yet but it could happen. Many boats come at the top of the hour expecting the bridge to open as written in the CG bulletin but it doesn’t. The railroad bridge tender will say “ There’s a train on approach “. Ten minutes later it finally shows up! If the bridge isn’t opening within a minute of the train clearing the bridge, call the train bridge tender on Channel 9 immediately. It gets forgotten occasionally and stays closed when it doesn’t need to be.
Btw the APP is worthless!