Century’s Freedom Road Bridge Replacement Stalls Again: The Town Needs Another $700K

October 27, 2025

The Freedom Road bridge in Century has been closed for over five and a half years, and it looked like a new bridge would be in place by the second half of 2026. But now, the project is on hold once again as the Town of Century is forced to seek additional funding.

Century received a nearly $1.257 million legislative appropriation for a new Freedom Road bridge, and about $1,067,788 remains today for construction after project design and permitting,

The town recently opened bids for the project with the low bid of $1,612,966.06 from F&W Construction Company. With engineering and inspection costs, the town needs about $700,000 more.

“The town will be seeking multiple potential grant sources to cover the shortfall and complete this project,” Century Administrator Dave Murzin said. He said the shortfall was due to rising construction costs since the Legislature funded the project.

Two other bids were received on the project: RBM Contracting at $1,733,878.30 and Chavers Construction at $2,274,427.50.

On January 29, 2020, the town suddenly closed the bridge on Freedom Road, just east of Jefferson Avenue. Photos obtained by NorthEscambia.com a few days later showed the dangerous conditions that led to the emergency closure. Several pilings under the wooden bridge were no longer properly supporting the structure, and some of the pilings were split or had extreme deterioration (pictured left and below).

File photos/graphics for and by NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

5 Responses to “Century’s Freedom Road Bridge Replacement Stalls Again: The Town Needs Another $700K”

  1. SW on October 28th, 2025 9:56 am

    Century.

    Nuff said.

  2. M in Bratt on October 27th, 2025 7:25 pm

    I know the TOC does not always look for simple solutions, especially when all these projects are being done with other peoples money. The simple solution is to turn it into a cul de sac. It has been this way for years and nobody has suffered. If you look around the North End, I am sure you can find far longer dead end roads

  3. Well on October 27th, 2025 2:19 pm

    That is a crazy amount of money to be spent for a 30-ft bridge.

  4. sw on October 27th, 2025 9:04 am

    I wish it would stay closed. It is so peaceful!

  5. Just Me on October 27th, 2025 7:59 am

    I still say do the same thing that was done to the bridge on Jefferson. It’s non sense to spend that much money on a drainage ditch.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News