It may look wide enough to be a road, but it is not.
The 12-foot-wide paved pathway on the south side of U.S. 98 between Destin’s Marler Bridge and the Fort Walton Beach Brooks Bridge is just that: a pathway to connect the two communities.
Okaloosa County broke ground on the bridge-to-bridge path in July 2024.
The nearly 4-mile, 12-foot-wide pedestrian and cycling path will connect Brooks and Marler bridges and feature photoluminescent properties, glowing at night, according to Nick Tomecek, public information officer for Okaloosa County government.
The contract amount for the project is $4,512,074.96 with multiple funding sources, including a $2 million state appropriation through an FDOT grant and the rest through tourism revenue, Tomecek said.
In recent weeks, the project has seen some delays due to rain and the relocation of fiber optic infrastructure.
The project, however, is expected to be “substantially complete” in early August.
But in the meantime, there have been posts on social media of people driving and parking cars on the path.
“Motorized vehicles, including cars, golf carts, low-speed vehicles, or gas-powered scooters are prohibited from driving and parking on the path,” Tomecek said.
To discourage driving on the path, Okaloosa County has installed bollards at the beach access points.
“We are exploring additional efforts to keep vehicles off the path. This is still an active construction area and for safety reasons, people should remain off of it,” Tomecek said.
According to Capt. Jason Fulghum of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, there have been complaints received about people driving on the path and parking on it.
“Right now, it’s primarily an educational focus for compliance, since it’s still under construction and the county’s signage or other preventative measures haven’t yet been implemented,” Fulghum said.
“If our deputies were to encounter problems that had to be addressed, they are more likely at this point to try to educate people versus issuing citations,” said Michele Nicholson, public information officer for the OCSO.
The stabilizing of the parking areas at the federally permitted beach access areas is still in progress. But once completed, it should provide improved parking, Tomecek said.
This article originally appeared on The Destin Log: The bridge-to-bridge path is not a road
Reporting by Tina Harbuck, The Destin Log / The Destin Log
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
