A critical infrastructure failure has thrown daily life across Central Andros into disarray, after the Fresh Creek Bridge — the island’s primary north-south transport link — was officially condemned following the sinking of a key structural support that left the crossing dangerously unstable.
The structural failure, which local leaders say was years in the making due to unfulfilled replacement plans, triggered widespread disruptions: it has delayed critical electricity restoration work, cut off access to key government services, the island’s main airport, and major local employers, and forced residents and commuters to rely on makeshift boat travel while awaiting a temporary replacement.
Senior engineering officials with Bahamas’ Ministry of Works and Family Affairs confirmed that a post-failure visual inspection found one of the bridge’s intermediate piers had sunk, shifting the entire structure’s weight load to just two outer supports. The bridge’s pile cap tilted between 20 and 30 degrees, pulling three concrete bridge slabs downward with it. “This is a great concern. This is not the way the bridge was designed,” senior engineer Anthony Taylor said. “As a result, we have officially condemned the bridge. We are not allowing vehicular traffic to traverse the bridge at this particular time, and we are in the process of developing temporary solutions to address the matter.”
Central Andros District Administrator Jackson McIntosh noted that the collapse was not an unforeseen event. For years, successive local administrations had laid out concrete plans to replace the aging, deteriorating crossing, but none of those plans ever moved forward. “Mother Nature decided it was going to fast-track dealing with the situation,” he said. Officials have confirmed there will be no repairs to the existing structure, which also carries critical water and electricity utilities across the creek. Utility lines will be reconfigured, with a new water line potentially laid along the creek’s seabed, and the condemned bridge will be demolished once all regulatory and planning steps are complete.
A pre-fabricated temporary bridge has already been located in New York, but officials estimate it will take roughly two months to transport and install on Andros. In the interim, the government has moved quickly to launch a temporary ferry service that was scheduled to begin operations the day after the bridge’s closure, to help residents and workers cross the waterway. Authorities also allowed a two-hour window for residents and workers to cross the bridge one last time before shutting it down completely to all vehicle traffic.
The closure has already hit critical services hard. Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) announced that restoration work for ongoing outages in Cargill Creek and parts of South Andros has been put on hold, as crews cannot move heavy equipment and personnel across the creek. The utility explored alternative sea access routes but was unable to secure suitable vessels; it now expects the planned ferry service to allow work to resume. Beyond power restoration, the shutdown has blocked commuter access to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Centre, a major local employer, and cut off residents’ access to the airport, government offices, and businesses located on the opposite side of Fresh Creek.
Works Minister Clay Sweeting confirmed that government officials, including local MP Leon Lundy and a team of technical experts, traveled to the site the morning after the failure was reported to assess the situation. The government has already entered into discussions with Acrow Bridge, a firm that previously provided temporary and permanent bridge infrastructure to Abaco and Eleuthera, to formalize the temporary crossing delivery.
Robert Mouzas, Director of Public Works, added that the temporary crossing has long been part of the broader permanent replacement plan. The new permanent bridge is designed to be a two-lane structure standing 16 to 20 feet higher than the original crossing, reducing flood and erosion risks.
Local community leaders and residents have described the disruption as a major blow to daily life. Dr. Dorinda Dean, president of the Central Andros Christian Council, called the closure “a great loss, great disappointment, great setback.” Dean, who lives in Andros Town but leads a congregation in Calabash Bay on the opposite side of the bridge, was forced to miss a youth ministry workshop at her church, an event that saw low attendance overall due to the crossing shutdown. Currently, residents must book separate taxis on each side of the creek and cross via small private boats, turning routine trips into complicated, costly outings. Commuters from Cargill Creek, Behring Point and Blanket Sound face daily barriers to reaching their workplaces, and multiple local businesses have reported lost revenue from restricted access.
Longtime South Andros resident Julian Gibson said erosion around the bridge’s supports had been a source of community concern for years. “If you see things getting rusty and starting to chip away and starting to fall apart, eventually, with trucks going back and forth, they could collapse,” he said. Gibson emphasized that the bridge served as the only reliable fixed route connecting northern and southern Andros, making its shutdown a far-reaching barrier to access for all essential services across the island.