Brooks Bridge versus a barge

The big news in Destin this week was the barge that hit the Brooks Bridge. Brooks Bridge is the way to get to Ft. Walton Beach from Okaloosa Island and Destin. It is the main east/west highway. On Wednesday afternoon a barge that was hauling equipment including a crane hit the bridge. The crane was what actually hit the bridge. It is obvious someone didn’t do their calculations of the height of the crane and the clearance properly.

Photo from the Northwest Florida Daily News

When the crane hit the bridge it took out a part of the concrete guardrail but more importantly it ruptured the main water line to the island. Luckily there was no structural damage to the bridge. The bridge was closed to all traffic as soon as it happened. Rush hour traffic was a nightmare. Anyone wanting to go east or west had to go across the Mid-Bay bridge and through Niceville. It was total gridlock all around. I was one of the unlucky ones that had to detour home. My normal 20 minute drive home became a 2 hour and 10 minute crawl. All that time to go about 30 miles! Ugh!

Photo from the Northwest Florida Daily News

I give high marks to the work crews who worked all night to get the water main fixed and a temporary guardrail set up. They had one lane each way open on the bridge last night and then early Thursday morning they completely reopened the bridge. A great job in a short period of time!

Other than that, the rest of the week has been pretty low key. I did stop in at Landshark Pizza on Tuesday evening. Brian and Stephanie were working. Steve and his wife were there as was Turtle and his wife and son. A little later “B” came in. He was in rare form cracking jokes and cutting up with Stephanie. It was a fun time.

Sunshine Cindy showing off our tee shirts

Sunshine Cindy got our next Crab Island Mambo T-Shirt order placed. We will be introducing our 2013 design with the new shirts in a week or so. We will have tee’s, tanks and long sleeves. We hope to add hats in the future too. We want everyone to “Embrace the Chaos!” with us.

I have heard the old Calhoun’s is close to getting leased. I do not know what is going in there yet but it is supposed to be some type of bar/restaurant. I also heard the old Electric Cowboy building might be leased too. That would be good as that side of the boardwalk needs some more places to hang out at. Coyote Ugly is scheduled to open April 5th. And still no official announcement about Margaritaville. Maybe by this time next year we will know! LOL

Beach Party

We have a big Crab Island Mambo “1st Saturday of Spring Beach Party” this Saturday. It is at Beachwalk #2 on Okaloosa Island and will start at 11 am. Come out and join us if you are in the area. We always have ourselves a real good time! See ya Monday!