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 Bridging the distance
Defining bridge clearance can prove confusing
By BOB E. SHERMAN
Waterfront News Columnist
From Fort Pierce to Key Largo 50 bridges cross the Intracoastal Waterway, their vertical clearances ranging from nine to 65 feet. Their opening schedules vary as well: on demand, on the hour, 20 and 40 minutes past the hour, on the hour and half hour, and 15 and 45 minutes past the hour.
Some bridges have different schedules for day and evening. And if you travel the Miami River or the New River, you’ll find the bridges closed during rush hours.
Probably the most confusing aspect is bridge clearance. Some bridges report clearances at the fenders while others show the vertical clearance at the center and some don’t show anything at all.
Clearances are reported in various boating guides, which generally are not updated until years after a new bridge is built. “Dozier’s Waterway Guide, Southern 2007” shows the clearance of the bridge over Hallandale Beach Boulevard as 22 feet. But a new bridge was completed in 2002 and I know that the clearance is higher.
My search for the truth led me to the Florida Inland Navigation District, which, it turns out, is only responsible for dredging waterways. They suggested I call the bridge tender, who refused to disclose the clearance. She did tell me she worked for a company called C & S Building Maintenance, a subcontractor for VMS, which has a contract with the Florida Department of Transportation to manage bridges.
I then spoke with DOT. They confirmed the VMS connection and also confirmed that the minimum clearance at the fender in Hallandale is 26 feet. My source could not say why bridge tenders will not give out clearance information. We agreed that it was probably a liability issue.
Ironically, bridge tenders can report your vessel for an unnecessary bridge opening, for which you can be fined up to $15,000. Obviously, to file a report that would hold up in court, the bridge tender must know the clearance of the bridge as well as the height of your boat. Interestingly, my DOT source did not know of any case when a boat owner was actually fined.
My search for a definitive answer on why bridge tenders will not give out clearance information led to a call to C & S, who stated that they were just following U.S. Coast Guard regulations. Next I called the Coast Guard’s Miami office and spoke to an officer, who stated there is no such regulation.
When I travel the ICW, I monitor VHF channel 09 as well as 16, of course. Florida bridges monitor channel 09 and all vessels requiring an opening must make a request on channel 09.
It’s amazing how many boaters are not aware of this policy.
Many times I have overheard a vessel requesting an opening on channel 16. Usually someone breaks in and explains the rules. I’m not talking about the first bridge encountered after entering Port Everglades from France. I’m hearing this four or five bridges into the ICW. Didn’t these boaters go through the same drill at the last three bridges?
On an average boating day, I usually encounter at least one vessel that has missed a scheduled opening by one minute or less. It seems the boater always loses. It doesn’t matter that the vessel has missed the opening by minutes or seconds and that the bridge has not just opened for another vessel, nor that there is little, if any, vehicular traffic.
And even though both presidential candidates are calling for us to conserve fuel, a bridge tender will make the 125-foot mega yacht idle near the bridge in question for another half hour.
There are exceptions to this rule of course. I was traveling with a friend on his 48-foot Albin. We arrived at the Miami Broad Causeway and requested an opening for the next scheduled opening at 15 minutes past the hour. The bridge tender acknowledged us.
As the scheduled time came and went, we waited patiently. After another five minutes went by, we thought it wise to call the bridge again. The tender replied that he could not see us, so he assumed we turned around and went home.
We had apparently drifted west and his view was obstructed by a mechanical room on the north side of the bridge. I’ll let you be the judge as to whether this was a logical assumption on the tender’s part. He did finally open the bridge for us. I hope he wasn’t written up for opening the bridge at a non-scheduled time.
In conclusion, you should know your boat’s clearance with antennas up and down. To estimate the additional clearance at center, have your first mate watch the antenna as you pass under a bridge.
Or study civil engineering.
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Bob E. Sherman is a boater based in Hallandale Beach. He is author of the book “Am I the Only One That Signals?”. He can be e-mailed at: signals@bobesherman.com .
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