New River Bridge's Opening lets Tri-Rail Expand Service in Fort Lauderdale

Trains are expected to begin running over the 55ft-tall New River bridge in Fort Lauderdale, spokeswoman Bonnie Arnold said.

The $78m bridge, which took four-and-a-half years to build, runs parallel to Interstate 95 for about 2 miles between the Fort Lauderdale and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport stations.

During the past three weeks, service on two morning southbound trains and an evening northbound train was suspended to complete work on signals and to connect the bridge to the rail corridor. By cancelling three trains, the agency was able to limit delays on other trains to 30 minutes to an hour throughout the rest of the day.

Opening the bridge also clears the way for Tri-Rail to expand its weekday schedule from 40 to 50 trains. During the morning rush, southbound trains will run every 30 minutes, except during the peak, when there will be 20 minute service. In the afternoon, seven northbound trains will run every 20 or 30 minutes.

There will be more weekend trains, and trains will run at standard times on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The new schedule shaves five minutes off the end-to-end 72 mile trip, Executive Director Joe Giulietti said.

The increase in service, which has been promised for the past year, was not possible without the taller bridge. Trains have been operating on a drawbridge over the river that has to be raised for boat traffic. Because boats have priority, it was not possible to run 20 minute trains without the new bridge.

Early-morning commuters may still experience some minor delays next week because of a project to replace 88,000 wooden ties on the rail corridor. The repairs should be complete next Friday.