A proposal to put Northwest Florida’s Garcon Point Bridge in the state turnpike system began to move forward Monday in the Florida Senate.
The Transportation Committee supported the transfer as part of a broader measure (SB 1250) by Chairman Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach.
The Santa Rosa County bridge was the subject of a legal fight between bondholders and the state because it did not generate enough toll revenue.
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Last year, the Department of Transportation agreed to pay $134 million to take control of the bridge and end the litigation.
The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority, which the Legislature created in 1992, issued bonds in 1996 to build the bridge over part of Pensacola Bay.
The lack of toll revenue to fully pay bondholders was complicated because the authority effectively became defunct in 2014.
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