Major SR 44 Bridge Project End In Sight

    The new bridge over the St. Johns River in DeLand continues to take shape, as the years-long project inches toward completion. The fixed-level span bridge is now towering over the drawbridge it will replace, with the project expected to be completed in early 2024.
   The Florida Department of Transportation began the project in 2020, with $45.4 million budget.
   Today, the new bridge has taken shape, with contractors with Superior Construction Company Southeast, LLC continuing to finalize the span. Beyond the bridge itself, large, dirt-filled ramps that will make up the new SR 44 alignment are also in place but not yet in their final form.
   The project covers just under a mile, and stretches into Lake County and the CR 42 intersection. That area is expected to be reworked as part of the project, with its final layout not yet in place.
   The historic ‘White Hair’ bridge, as the draw bridge is known, will be removed after the project is finished, leaving the drawbridge in Astor as the lone remaining Lake/Volusia bridge of its kind. The FDOT has long discussed a similar project for Astor as is now being undertaken in DeLand, but no formal date, or even firm plan, to replace the Astor bridge has been announced.