Will 2026 Finally Be The Year For A New Freedom Road Bridge In Century?

January 6, 2026

Will 2025 finally be the year for a new Freedom Road Bridge in Century?

Century Administrator Dave Murzin says he sure hopes so.

January 29 will mark six years since the bridge was closed.

For a while, it looked like a new bridge would be in place by the second half of 2026. But now, the project remains on hold as the Town of Century is forced to continue to seek additional funding.

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

The town opened bids last year 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.

“We are continuing to seek other sources of funding,” Murzin said recently. He said the shortfall was due to rising construction costs since the Legislature funded the project.

The town is also exploring other options to lower the overall cost, such as in-kind services from Escambia County

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

2 Responses to “Will 2026 Finally Be The Year For A New Freedom Road Bridge In Century?”

  1. rd on January 6th, 2026 5:26 pm

    Would it cost less to abandon the bridge and just connect Freedom Rd to Jefferson Ave on the east side of that gulley. It would only require a 300-350′ road spur.

  2. SMW on January 6th, 2026 8:20 am

    I wish Jefferson from Hwy 4 and Briggs/Clancy would get paved! Always forgotten about even by the current Mayor! Roads are crap and tearing up the vehicles! Nobody cares about the north end at all!





Have a comment on this story?

We welcome your comments on this story, but there are some rules to follow::

(1) Be Nice. No comments that slander another, no racism, no sexism, no personal attacks.

(2) No Harrassing Comments. If someone says something bad about you, don't respond. That's childish.

(3) No Libel. That's saying something is not true about someone. Don't do it.

(4) Keep it clean. Nothing vulgar, obscene or sexually related. No profanity or obvious substitutions. Period.

(5) NorthEscambia.com reserves the right to remove any comments that violate our rules or we think to be inappropriate. We are not responsible for what is posted. Comments may not appear right away until they are approved by a moderator.

(6) Limit your comments to the subject in this story only, and limit comments to 300 words or less. Do not post copyrighted material. Comments will not be added to stories that are over 30 days old.

(7) No posts may advertise a commercial business, political candidate or political group, or link to another commercial web site or political site of any kind.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under MORE TOP STORIES 

  NEfb