On Sunrise Key, the Bridge Work Depends on Which Way You're Headed

This month, how many construction zones does a boat cross between a Sunrise Key dock and Port Everglades? The rehab on the Sunrise Boulevard bridge adds none of them. A boat heading north to the same bridge has to deal with single-leaf openings, a two-hour advance call to the bridge tender for a full opening, and a partly blocked channel at night. The direction a trip takes now matters more than how long it is. That holds on the road too. And the Galleria project next door, the one most people are talking about, hasn't started.

Where the Middle River meets the work zone

Fort Lauderdale's 1992 ordinance creating the Sunrise Key Neighborhood Improvement District describes about 34 acres "bounded on the North and on the East by Middle River, on the South by Rio Barcelona, and on the West by Karen Canal." All of Sunrise Key's boat traffic reaches the Intracoastal by way of the Middle River.

NOAA's U.S. Coast Pilot, in the edition dated Oct. 4, 2026, puts the two Sunrise Boulevard bascule bridges at Intracoastal Mile 1062.6. It says the Middle River "enters the waterway from westward about 0.6 mile south of the Sunrise Boulevard bascule bridges." The Coast Pilot puts Port Everglades farther south, at Mile 1066.3.

That makes two routes out of Sunrise Key:

1. Southbound to Port Everglades and the ocean. You turn south at the mouth of the Middle River and never get within half a mile of the work zone.
2. Northbound on the Intracoastal. You run 0.6 mile up to the bridges, which have a minimum center clearance of 25 feet when closed. The construction schedule applies to you there.

A boat that clears 25 feet can pass at any hour, the same as before. Taller boats heading north are the ones whose plans now depend on the Coast Guard.

What the Coast Guard notice changes through Nov. 14

In normal times, federal drawbridge rules under 33 CFR 117.261 have the East Sunrise Boulevard bridge open on the hour and half-hour. The only routine exceptions fall on the first weekend in May. The rehab has changed that in stages.

The Coast Guard's Local Notice to Mariners dated Oct. 7, 2026 says the contractor is working 24 hours a day, with lighted equipment in the water around the southeast fender and the bridge span. The channel is partly blocked, and the bridge has been granted a temporary deviation from its regular schedule. When the Sun Sentinel covered the project in May, it reported that rebuilding the fender would close half the channel. The Coast Guard notice doesn't give a width for the open side.

The 48-hour closure in early September was for electrical work on the bridge. Boats that could fit under the closed span were still allowed through. Under the current deviation, the notice says "vessels able to pass without an opening may do so at any time through the unobstructed side."

The two-hour notice for a full opening is the detail most likely to change a northbound afternoon. According to the Coast Pilot, the bridge tender monitors VHF-FM channel 16 and works on channel 13. Through mid-November, a wide-beam or tall boat heading north needs that call made well ahead of time. After 9 p.m., no notice gets a full opening.

The same bridge, from behind the wheel

On the road, the south side of the bridge closed to cars at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3. The City of Fort Lauderdale's Aug. 28 advisory says that side, which normally carries eastbound traffic, stays closed through early 2027. All traffic now runs on the north side, two lanes in each direction.

One turn is gone for the length of the shift. Drivers on westbound Sunrise Boulevard can't turn left onto southbound NE 26th Avenue. If you come back from the beach side and usually take that left, you'll need another route until early 2027.

The full FDOT project covers about 0.8 mile of Sunrise Boulevard, from just west of Middle River Drive to just east of North Birch Road. According to FDOT's project page, the work includes a new bridge deck, new mechanical and electrical parts for the bridge, resurfacing, and upgrades to lighting, curb ramps, signs and pavement markings. The road and the waterway are both affected by one project with one contractor, but on separate schedules. The lane shift lasts into early 2027. The current boating deviation ends Nov. 14.

The project that hasn't started

Most of the talk around Sunrise Key this year has been about the Galleria Fort Lauderdale, which sits on Sunrise Boulevard just west of the Intracoastal and east of the Middle River. A joint venture of GFO Investments, InSite Group, Prime Finance and Atlas Hill Real Estate bought the 31.5-acre site for $73 million in September 2025. It had filed redevelopment plans with the city the month before.

The plan as it stands calls for eight towers, each 308 feet 6 inches to the roofline. It includes 3,144 residential units, a 170-room hotel and new shops and restaurants. Earlier coverage reported nine buildings. The Sun Sentinel has since said the correct count is eight and that an L-shaped building likely caused the confusion. The plans were filed under Florida's Live Local Act. That means an expedited administrative approval with no public hearings or commission votes, in exchange for setting aside 1,273 apartments as workforce housing.

Expedited or not, the timeline has slipped. In December 2025, the developer's attorney said staff review was expected Jan. 13, followed by permits and groundbreaking. In its Sept. 5, 2026 report, the Sun Sentinel said the developers were "still waiting on city approvals a year after submitting plans." A city spokeswoman said the project and its traffic study were still under review.

The changes already underway are inside the mall. In mid-August, a clerk at Chico's said the store would close within two weeks to make room for a remodel. By early September the sign was gone and the windows were papered over. The developer's attorney said the mall "remains in full operation" during the improvements, which include new façades and work on the main entrances, and that many of them are already in permitting.

Here's what the mall has right now:

• Anchors: Dillard's and Macy's.
• Listed as open on the mall's own news page: Artesano Bakehouse, on Level 2 near Pandora, and Gia's Chocolatier, near Macy's. The page doesn't give opening dates.
• On the way: a Wayfair store of about 94,000 square feet, announced in April as the company's first in Florida and planned for late 2027.

The renderings show athletic courts, which the Sun Sentinel corrected to say are at nearby George English Park and not on the mall property. For Sunrise Key this fall, the Galleria means a few storefronts changing inside the mall. The towers are still on paper.

Three finish lines for the bridge

The waterway notice ends Nov. 14 and the lane shift runs into early 2027. Beyond those dates, nobody has agreed on when the bridge project will be done. The published estimates are:

1. Around September 2027, according to the Coast Guard's general work notice, which covers the rehab from June 1, 2026.
2. Late 2027, according to FDOT's project page.
3. Early 2028, according to the project's community outreach specialist as quoted in the Sun Sentinel in May.

These may be measuring different parts of the work, and none of the sources explains why they differ. The Coast Guard says it will announce further channel obstructions as they come. The next schedule that matters to Sunrise Key's northbound boats will show up in a weekly District 7 Local Notice to Mariners sometime before Nov. 14. The southbound route to Port Everglades doesn't depend on it at all.

When a construction schedule touches one side of a property's water access and not the other, it can affect how a waterfront home is valued, shown and timed for sale. If you own on Sunrise Key and want a confidential read on how this season and the Galleria review could affect your home, Tagliamonte & Associates can walk through it with you privately. Request a Confidential Home Valuation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.