Scott pledges $90 million for bridge to help Everglades, relieve Lake Okeechobee

Published on September 2, 2013 04:22 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government

Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday pledged $90 million for a new bridge along historic Tamiami Trail, a project that promises to restore natural water flow to part of the Everglades and ease — at least eventually — unnatural Lake Okeechobee releases now fouling two coastal rivers.

Scott, who has faced mounting complaints about polluted water flushed from the rain-swollen lake, said the state would commit up to $30 million annually over three years to match federal funding for a 2.6-mile-long bridge that is the next step for fixing a road that has acted as a dam across the Everglades for more than 80 years.

Environmentalists, lawmakers on both coasts and the federal agency that oversees Everglades National Park all praised the move, which they hope will speed up work and bolster uncertain congressional support for completing 6.5 miles of proposed bridging. A one-mile stretch of bridge was opened with much fanfare in March but isn't nearly wide enough to revive the parched park.

Eric Eikenberg, chief executive office of the Everglades Foundation, called the governor "an environmental leader,'' crediting Scott for taking a broader look at restoration problems. To solve Lake O's high-water problems, he said, more water has to move south through the Glades instead of east and west out the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. That can't happen without more bridges on Tamiami Trail.

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