Printable View
The bridge is supposed to open Monday according to the signs I saw today. Here are a few more pics:
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...pslvrbv0pn.jpg
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...psfz9qacdc.jpg
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...pstlkg38pm.jpg
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...pslvrbv0pn.jpg
Continued
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...psawquxjaa.jpg
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...psrbe5geta.jpg
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...psyc6rbtpg.jpg
These two guys were walking up and down the seawall, and I didn't see them throw their nets at anything while I was there. The was also a guy paddling around in a kayak north of the bridge, but not fishing. Very few people around.
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...pspou13wwj.jpg
Yep, APR reported that they will "cut the ribbon" today!
From my limited knowledge of engineering...if they don't put some rock and create a narrower opening into the gulf to create current to "shoot" the water into the gulf...they have just spent lots of money for a new bridge...that's all. Slower current means sands settles out and makes a bar. It's the biggest now it has ever been.
Some here are old enough to remember the old metal seawall before it was shortened due to eating away of the first 10 lots west of the pass years ago...the pass stayed deep at all times...and only required ANY dredging once the seawall was shortened...the rest is history and lawsuits.
Next lawsuit will be forthcoming pretty shortly from the property owners association if it doesn't remain navigable to the gulf for vessels bigger than kayaks and paddleboards.
How's that for a first post!
The jetty & pass was never designed as a navigable pass. Nor was any indication given that the purpose of the new bridge & jetty rebuild was to provide a navigable pass. It was to replace the narrow aging bridge and to try to reduce the frequency of the court order required dredging.
The court orders speak to maintaining water exchange between the Gulf & Lagoon and bypassing sand to address the erosion the jetties caused along the Gulf-fronting properties to the west. It says nothing about maintaining navigability.
Folkses interested should consider joining the Little Lagoon Preservation Society
Little Lagoon Preservation Society, Gulf Shores Alabama, LLPS
I remember when I was young there were two opening to the lagoon the one where the bridge is and one at the end of the road ( where the gate is now). Is the flow. Between the gulf and the lagoon increased with wider pass or is it shallow and filling up?? I remember the draw bridge going into gulf shores.
Flow is a factor of tidal forcing and the cross section of the pass. I haven't seen the calculations but the new pass should slightly increase flushing when they are done. But it wont be a huge increase. That's just the nature of tidal lagoons.
I drove across the new bridge yesterday, just because I could!
When I was a kid (long,long ago) there were 3 ways to get to the pass, walk, boat or Jeep.
We had an old WWII Willys and it made many trips up & down the beach, and pulled out countless stuck visitors.
The old Willys died of terminal rust in the early sixties.
Little Lagoon Preservation Society: Who we are
Tidal flow around any inlet in our area is inconsistent due to the natural tidal flow fluctuations experienced twice monthly (NEAP tides).Quote:
LLPS has taken action to ensure Lagoon Pass remains open to provide “flushing” and maintain ADEM water quality classification for the Lagoon-”Fish and Wildlife, Swimming, and Shellfish Harvest”. The result of that legal effort was a District Court order requiring Alabama Department of Transportation to dregde and maintain a channel at Callaway Pass for water quality purposes.
The predominant force on the beach front (though even more inconsistent and unpredictable) is littoral drift.
It inexorably moves sand westward and (in time) will 'pinch off' any tidal inlet with westward growing beach sandbars unless breached by man (dredging) or nature (storm surge).
Maintenance dredging of the channel under Calloway Bridge was deemed the best vehicle to provide this and seems to have worked well enough for the LL to remain vibrant.
Hopefully, with the new slightly wider pass opening the LL will remain as vibrant or (dare we say) be even more so.
The pass is now about 4 feet deep at the mouth it was passable in the city boat today we were able to go threw and turn around in the gulf
True, before dredging you read of historical reports of ships waiting until the tides were right to be able to cross over the 'bar' at the mouths of many bays and rivers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
Thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by kastlemac85
How often is the depth monitored?
Kastleman - how big is the city boat? What clearance do you have from the water to the bridge? Could you have gone on out into the Gulf or would you have been able to get past the sandbars?
Thanks
Robert - LL
Me too Fin
Robert -LL
Its a 14ft flat bottom skiff, we could have gone out but im not sure about a v hull. The most shallow spot i saw out side the pass was just over 2 feet. Pier#r its supposed to be monitored once a week and when it goes in trigger we monitor it for 10 days straight. But correcting it is not always done immediately some times things move kind of slowly if u know what i mean.
is there any way to fish the jettys, i heard everything was fenced off?
You're thinking of Perdido Pass (Alabama Point). This is about a different, smaller pass to the west of there, Lagoon Pass.Quote:
Originally Posted by Klester31
Does anyone know of anyone (beside Kastleman) that has been out the Little Lagoon pass in a boat bigger than flat bottom? Out into the Gulf?
Thanks
Robert LL
Nothing but crickets ....the fishing must be epic!!!:) I'm sure regular water flow has brought in a a ton more baitfish..I cant wait to try it out in a couple of weeks.
The water flow looks anything but "regular" of late.
The mouth is getting much shallower with a fully emergent sandbar just outside the opening end now...
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...2dd784c0c629c3
https://scontent-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...46&oe=55D2E476
Photos are by Steve Jones ("Coast Cards") May 12, 2015.
I talked with kastlemac85 at the pier Saturday and he explained the process to me in more detail.
Hopefully relief will be coming soon!
Beat me to it Pier#r!
I rode over the bridge Saturday and saw the bar.
Way back in the dark ages when I was a kid, we called it (the pass) the cut-off; and now it looks like the pass is cut off.
!No Bueno! I thought they were going to dredge that all out?