Built in the 1920s, the Bridge of Lions, with its distinctive pride of lions placed at the four corners of the bridge, occasionally causes administrative headaches for the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND), the state sponsor for the federally controlled Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Florida. The narrow opening and the minimal height limits the size of vessels transiting the waterway, contrary to federal law mandating the minimum clearances of bridges spanning the Waterway.
The Bridge of Lions has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Moreover, the bridge enjoys widespread support from the preservation community. Both factor make tearing down the Mediterranean Revival-styled bridge a difficult proposition.
Florida’s Big Dig 