On July 28, 2025, Panama City firefighters sprayed the Tarpon Dock Drawbridge with water. Heat had expanded the metal until the bridge couldn't close. Cars were sent around on Fourth and Sixth streets while boats kept moving through the open span, according to WJHG. If you live in The Cove, you probably remember the detour.
The city now has a fix funded and scheduled, and it's one of three projects coming to East Beach Drive. The three projects with three funding sources and three clocks are lined up on the same stretch of road. The largest one runs about three miles through the neighborhood's streets and gets far less attention than the drawbridge.
One Street, Three Clocks
Here's what has been announced, as of the third week of October 2026.
| Project | What it does | Money | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarpon Dock Drawbridge upgrade | New gears, new electrical parts, heat-resistant paint | About $1 million, state-funded through FDOT | Expected to go to bid in about 60 days; work starts early 2027 and runs five to six months |
| East Beach Drive water main | New 12-inch main under East Beach Drive | About $1 million, zero-interest state loan | Just getting underway |
| SRF Area P-12 Improvements | Road, water line, sewer line and sewer lining replacement across The Cove | Construction cost not published in the bid ad | Bids due November 6, 2026; 365-day expected duration |
The bridge and water main details come from City Manager Jonathan Hayes, speaking to WJHG on October 17. The P-12 details come from the city's own bid advertisement, PC26-037, dated October 7, 2026.
On the calendar, the water main is already moving, the P-12 contract is out for bids right now, and the bridge work follows early next year. The bridge's breakdowns explain the water main, and the water main leads to the larger P-12 rebuild, so the story starts at the bridge.
Why the Bridge Keeps Sticking
The drawbridge sits on East Beach Drive between The Cove and downtown, and it carries boat traffic in and out of Massalina Bayou. City officials told WJHG in August 2025 that it was built in 1951.
The problem is simple physics. On hot days the metal expands and the span won't fully seat. In a June 24, 2025 report, WJHG said the bridge wasn't locking properly and was stuck open, with drivers detoured to East Fourth Street. The July 28 closure came about a month later. By early August, WJHG reported that heat shutdowns had happened several times that year and in earlier years. Most recently, on October 12, 2026, the city said power had been restored to the bridge and normal operations had resumed for both boats and drivers.
In that August 2025 story, Hayes described a two-part plan: upgrade the mechanical parts and find a coating that handles heat differently. Fourteen months later, the funded scope matches that plan. It includes new gears, new electrical components and heat-resistant paint. "We're going to refurbish some of the mechanical components to help it open and close a little bit better," Hayes told WJHG.
The work refurbishes the existing bridge. "A drawbridge is pretty cool. There's not a lot of them left in and around the state, an actual functioning drawbridge," Hayes said in the same WJHG report.
The Pipe Under the Same Pavement
The bridge story leads straight to the second project. The same WJHG report describes unreliable water pressure on that corridor and a new 12-inch water main under East Beach Drive meant to raise pressure downtown and in The Cove.
Tarpon Dock Seafood Market, at 234 E Beach Dr beside the bridge, is the clearest example of why it matters. The market runs more than 20 boats catching fresh seafood. Manager Jen Bergman told WJHG, "We have had to shut down certain areas of our business because we can't rely on the water." She added that when the bridge fails, "that cuts off one of our lines to the Cove, and our customers get rerouted."
So one business has felt both problems at once. The bridge cuts off its customers, and the pipe under the road limits what it can run. In the same story, Bergman said the market is "very much looking forward to the upgrades that the city has promised."
The water main and the bridge each cost about $1 million, but the money comes from different places. The state pays for the bridge through the Florida Department of Transportation. The water main is financed with a zero-interest state loan.
About Three Miles of Cove Streets Come Next
The water main is one line under one road. Area P-12 covers a whole network of streets.
The city's bid advertisement describes replacing about 15,916 linear feet of road, 15,216 linear feet of water line, 4,705 linear feet of sewer line and 7,731 linear feet of sewer lining. The road figure works out to just over three miles of pavement, and the water line figure comes close to the same. The ad places all of it in the Cove neighborhood, on these streets:
- E. Beach Drive
- Harmon Avenue
- Cone Avenue
- Wilson Avenue
- Allen Avenue
- Linda Avenue
- Hamilton Avenue
- N. Cove Boulevard
- N. MacArthur Avenue
- E. 2nd Court, E. 2nd Place, E. 2nd Street, E. 2nd Plaza and E. 3rd Street
Black & Veatch is the engineer of record, and Public Works Director Clint Murphy signed the ad. The contract's expected duration is 365 days. Bids are due at 11 a.m. Central on Friday, November 6, 2026, and they'll be opened publicly in City Hall's lower-level Room 010 at 501 Harrison Avenue.
November 6 is when bids get opened, and construction comes later. The ad also reserves the city's right to reject bids, rebid or postpone the opening. The clock starts once a contract is awarded, and that date hasn't been set.
The Cove Has Been Through This Once Already
P-12 isn't the neighborhood's first state revolving fund project. Panhandle Engineering lists an earlier one, Panama City SRF Area U, as a $16.4 million job serving a portion of the Cove community. Its scope covered pavement rehabilitation, new curb and sidewalk, water and sewer improvements and drainage work. The firm says it greatly improved walkability by adding new sidewalks and crosswalks. That page listed construction as ongoing with completion in 2024.
Area U is the closest model for what P-12 might look like when it's done. There's one difference to know. The P-12 ad lists road, water and sewer work and says nothing about sidewalks, crosswalks or drainage. Whether those get added will show up in the contract documents and the work itself. The ad doesn't promise them.
What the City Hasn't Said Yet
The announcements so far leave out the details residents will feel most.
Bridge closures. The October 17 report gives the bridge's start window and length but doesn't say whether cars or boats will be shut out during the work, or for how long. The only guide is the past breakdowns. When the bridge has been stuck, the city sent drivers to East Fourth Street, or Fourth and Sixth, and kept the span open to boats. Those detours were responses to breakdowns.
Overlap. If P-12 is awarded on schedule, its 365 days of work would overlap with the five-to-six-month bridge job in early 2027. Nothing published so far says how the city plans to sequence the two on East Beach Drive.
Which street goes first. The P-12 ad lists streets but no order or phasing.
The bridge timeline ties all three together. A bid date about 60 days after October 17 points to roughly mid-December. A start in early 2027 plus five to six months of work puts completion around midsummer 2027. That lands right as hot weather returns, which is when the bridge has struggled most.
Dates to Watch
- Now. The East Beach Drive water main is just getting underway.
- Friday, November 6, 2026, 11 a.m. Central. P-12 bids open at City Hall.
- About mid-December 2026. The bridge contract is expected to go to bid, about 60 days after the October 17 announcement.
- Early 2027. Bridge construction begins and runs five to six months.
- After the P-12 award. A 365-day street, water and sewer contract starts on the Cove streets listed above.
For questions about the P-12 bid itself, the ad names the city's Purchasing Division at [email protected] and 850-691-4902.
If you own on Harmon, Cone, N. Cove Boulevard or anywhere else on the P-12 list, road and pipe work on your block during that 365-day contract can affect how you time a sale, a renovation or a new dock project. The Sostheim Group follows this work street by street, and we're happy to talk through what it means for your plans. Contact Us.
