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Historically,
there has been such a bridge. Jackson Bluff Road ran west to Jackson Bluff, a prominence on the Ochlockonee River that's the site of the Jackson Bluff dam (a.k.a. the Lake Talquin dam). However, in the 1930s Dale Mabry Airfield expanded to the point that the road was cut by one of the runways. Jackson Bluff Road no longer needed to cross Munson Slough, so the bridge disappeared. Dale Mabry Field ceased operation in the 1960s when Tallahassee opened a new airport, and Jackson Bluff Road resumed its old route over the runways. However, instead of Jackson Bluff Road getting a new bridge and railroad crossing, West Pensacola Street was extended to meet up with the Blountstown Highway.For
automobile traffic, you really don't need a bridge on Jackson Bluff Road. Drivers can cross the Munson Slough on the Pensacola Street Bridge, or use one of the bridges on the roads that connect Roberts Avenue and Jackson Bluff Road. What would really be useful here is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge. This would connect the neighborhoods west of Munson Slough with James Messer Fields Park. It would also enhance Jackson Bluff Road's utility as a east-west corridor for bicycle traffic--a corridor that points right at the Florida State University campus and downtown Tallahassee. Finally, the Tallahassee-Leon County Greenways Master Plan includes a shared-use trail paralleling the railroad. The bridge would allow people to access the trail from Jackson Bluff Road on either side of the slough.CSX might not be terribly happy about having a bicycle and pedestrian path crossing their tracks, but it would sure beat having another automobile crossing.
Links:
- Map of the proposed Education Quadrant Greenways, including a
http://www.talgov.com/planning/pdf/environ/figur/figu5b.pdf
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