Garcon Point Bridge

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The Garcon Point Bridge is a 2-lane toll bridge in Santa Rosa County, in the Florida panhandle. The bridge generally runs north - south and connects U.S. Route 90 and Interstate 10 west of Milton, Florida to U.S. Route 98 east of Gulf Breeze, Florida. The road and bridge uses the TOLL 281 shield on signage from US98 to I-10. North of I-10 the road is signed solely as State Road 281. Exit signs on I-10 display both the Florida State Road 281 and TOLL 281 shields.

The bridge crosses East Bay, a large section of Pensacola Bay. The main argument for construction of the bridge was to assist hurricane evacuation from population centers and resorts on the Gulf of Mexico.

However, this bridge project became known as "Bo's Bridge" because it was a pet project of former Florida House Speaker Bolley "Bo" Johnson, D-Milton, who later went to federal prison for tax evasion. It was completed in 1999^[1], four years later, the bridge's owner, the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority, was forced to delay paying back millions of dollars it was loaned by the state even as it asked the state for an additional $500,000 loan.

The company that miscalculated the financial projections for the bridge, URS Greiner Woodward Clyde, based its figures on a bridge in the next county that leads to the popular beach resort of Destin. Unfortunately there was no Destin at the end of the Garcon Point Bridge, just a few subdivisions on a barrier island that was under a septic tank moratorium that limited growth.

"We now know that," Arthur Goldberg, the URS vice president who wrote the estimates for the Garcon Point Bridge, told the St. Petersburg Times in 2000. "I don't think the Garcon Point Bridge will ever get back to the forecast we made for it in 1996."

The company that built the Garcon Point Bridge put it together so fast that they set a speed record and collected a big bonus. Then they set another record: the largest financial penalty in Panhandle history for an environmental crime. In 2000, the construction company, Odebrecht-Metric, and three supervisors pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act. The company paid $4-million in fines and restitution, and the supervisors paid $1,000 fines and were put on probation.

There is one toll plaza at the north end of the bridge. Tolls may be paid with cash or with the SunPass electronic toll system. As of July, 2007, the one-way toll for a 2-axle vehicle was $3.50. SunPass users that cross the bridge 30 times per month receive a credit for 50% of toll cost.