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The bridge is supposed to open Monday according to the signs I saw today. Here are a few more pics:
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Continued
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These two guys were walking up and down the seawall, and I didn't see them throw their nets at anything while I was there. The was also a guy paddling around in a kayak north of the bridge, but not fishing. Very few people around.
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Yep, APR reported that they will "cut the ribbon" today!
From my limited knowledge of engineering...if they don't put some rock and create a narrower opening into the gulf to create current to "shoot" the water into the gulf...they have just spent lots of money for a new bridge...that's all. Slower current means sands settles out and makes a bar. It's the biggest now it has ever been.
Some here are old enough to remember the old metal seawall before it was shortened due to eating away of the first 10 lots west of the pass years ago...the pass stayed deep at all times...and only required ANY dredging once the seawall was shortened...the rest is history and lawsuits.
Next lawsuit will be forthcoming pretty shortly from the property owners association if it doesn't remain navigable to the gulf for vessels bigger than kayaks and paddleboards.
How's that for a first post!
The jetty & pass was never designed as a navigable pass. Nor was any indication given that the purpose of the new bridge & jetty rebuild was to provide a navigable pass. It was to replace the narrow aging bridge and to try to reduce the frequency of the court order required dredging.
The court orders speak to maintaining water exchange between the Gulf & Lagoon and bypassing sand to address the erosion the jetties caused along the Gulf-fronting properties to the west. It says nothing about maintaining navigability.
Folkses interested should consider joining the Little Lagoon Preservation Society
Little Lagoon Preservation Society, Gulf Shores Alabama, LLPS
I remember when I was young there were two opening to the lagoon the one where the bridge is and one at the end of the road ( where the gate is now). Is the flow. Between the gulf and the lagoon increased with wider pass or is it shallow and filling up?? I remember the draw bridge going into gulf shores.
Flow is a factor of tidal forcing and the cross section of the pass. I haven't seen the calculations but the new pass should slightly increase flushing when they are done. But it wont be a huge increase. That's just the nature of tidal lagoons.
I drove across the new bridge yesterday, just because I could!
When I was a kid (long,long ago) there were 3 ways to get to the pass, walk, boat or Jeep.
We had an old WWII Willys and it made many trips up & down the beach, and pulled out countless stuck visitors.
The old Willys died of terminal rust in the early sixties.
Little Lagoon Preservation Society: Who we are
Tidal flow around any inlet in our area is inconsistent due to the natural tidal flow fluctuations experienced twice monthly (NEAP tides).Quote:
LLPS has taken action to ensure Lagoon Pass remains open to provide “flushing” and maintain ADEM water quality classification for the Lagoon-”Fish and Wildlife, Swimming, and Shellfish Harvest”. The result of that legal effort was a District Court order requiring Alabama Department of Transportation to dregde and maintain a channel at Callaway Pass for water quality purposes.
The predominant force on the beach front (though even more inconsistent and unpredictable) is littoral drift.
It inexorably moves sand westward and (in time) will 'pinch off' any tidal inlet with westward growing beach sandbars unless breached by man (dredging) or nature (storm surge).
Maintenance dredging of the channel under Calloway Bridge was deemed the best vehicle to provide this and seems to have worked well enough for the LL to remain vibrant.
Hopefully, with the new slightly wider pass opening the LL will remain as vibrant or (dare we say) be even more so.