PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - On January 6, 2023, one span of the Donald Ross bridge was stuck in the open position blocking road traffic across the bridge. The bridge, now remaining in the down position, is blocking all marine traffic taller than 35 feet, relieving traffic on the road but leaving boaters heading for The Bahamas and other points South in a holding pattern until a target repair date of February 1.
The Donald Ross bridge is on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and lies between Jupiter Inlet
and Lake Worth Inlet in Florida. It has a clearance height of 35 feet but if you're a sailboat with a
taller mast, the bridge must open for your passage.
It has two leaves in parallel so if one leaf does not open, the other leaf will still block boats requiring 35 feet or more of clearance.
Sailboats either have to wait for the projected fix or wait for suitable weather and go outside
along the coast between inlets.
In a survey on ICW Cruising Guide Facebook page, 114 sailboats were impacted by the problem which included cancellation fees when they could not honor marina reservations they had made many months before.
According to Waterway Guide Contributing Editor Robert Sherer (aka Bob423) who is monitoring the situation, "Many plans were disrupted and new plans were attempted. Meanwhile, cruisers waited for news in filled marinas, mooring fields, and anchorages both north and south of the bridge. New boaters arriving in the area had nowhere to go - everything was taken by the 'waiters.'"
Finally, the news came out on Thursday, Jan, 20, that the engineering team believed they now had a fix with another set of parts with a target date of February 1st for the bridge to return to operation. Now the impacted sailboats can plan with some projected dates in hand.
The bridge status continues to be monitored and reported by Waterway Guide until its return to full
operation. See Navigation Alerts.