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Barrineau Park Bridge May Be Closed Due To Crime Problems
June 5, 2009
The Barrineau Park Bridge between Alabama and Florida had turned into a major problem that has Alabama officials saying they might shut down their side of the bridge.
The problem includes lots of graffiti, drugs, alcohol and fights, mostly on the Alabama side of the remote rural bridge across the Perdido River from Escambia County, Florida, to Baldwin County, Alabama. Some of the fights, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department, are staged between rival groups of teens. Baldwin deputies have responded to at least two fights in the past week, one requiring medical attention by Escambia County EMS.
The Florida side of the bridge has small “No Parking” signs posted, and it is relatively quiet and unused. Much of the river access is currently blocked by logs removed from log jams in the river. The land is privately owned on the Florida side, and the property owner has standing orders with the sheriff’s department to arrest trespassers.
But the Alabama side of the bridge is a different world with easy access to the river. Plus, the land is public, making it open to anyone. This week, Alabama officials posted large “No Parking” signs, and they plan to post more “No Trespassing” signs to forbid river access.
When NorthEscambia.com visited the bridge late Thursday afternoon, the “No Parking” signs had no vehicles parked near them. Instead, two vehicles were parked on the bridge and a third was parked on the Alabama side of the roadway, a short distance down the dirt road away from the bridge and the no parking signs. Several teens were standing peacefully on the bridge, while a few more people were swimming and wading with their dogs.
Empty beer and alcohol bottles litter the Alabama side of the bridge, and graffiti covers the bridge. The Florida side of the bridge is almost litter-free.
It is the fights, underage drinking and drugs that have Baldwin authorities the most concerned. They say they will step up patrols on their side of the bridge. If that does not work, Alabama authorities are not ruling out shutting down Duck Place Road which runs about three miles from Alabama 112 to the bridge and the Florida line. The bridge is a half mile from Highway 99 and Jacks Branch Road in Florida.
Pictured top: New “No Parking” signs were posted this week on the Alabama side of the Barrineau Park Bridge over the Perdido River. Picture below: Graffiti covers the bridge. Pictured bottom: No parking signs are also posted on the Florida side of the bridge. Two vehicles were parked on the bridge Thursday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
23 Responses to “Barrineau Park Bridge May Be Closed Due To Crime Problems”
How sad to read this about a place that holds so many wonderful childhood memories for me! It is such a beautiful place! I hope that this situation will one day be resolved and 50 years from now others will have as many happy memories of “The River” as I do.
I understand about the fights, drinking and drug. But a lot of people take their kids down there to get out of the house and have a relaxing, fun time. There are fights and underage drinking at the beach too. So no matter what they are going to do what they want. A lot of people don’t have the gas or money to go to the beach. So when you take this place away. A lot of people have no where to take their kids. I think instead of putting no trespassing signs put trash cans out there and signs of no littering. Because if you go out there, there is not 1 trash can or no littering sign. So where do people put there trash? Do like they did at the Pipes. Where the Gang ward comes out and checks on things. Come on now don’t take the pretty much last place we can go to swim on this side of town.
Susan you are absoutely right
I agree about the Fl side. Parents need to get more involved in their teens life and find out who they are hanging with and what their kids are up to. But in todays society, there is alot of parents that dont care where their kids are or what they are doing, just as long as they are out of their hair. I am mainly talking about the ones with the lifestyles that most of these kids are following. Todays society isnt nothing as it was when I was growing up.
Susan, Florida Law-enforcement has cleaned up the Fla side and I might add done a great job, Alabama has dropped the ball.
To Step, Law has gotten behind the bridge. They have done a great job on the Fla side and shut it down. What you seem to forget is that people talk about what needs to be done and oh how great it would be to do this. TAXPAYERS do not want pay for extra deputies down there. Leave Florida out of it, It is private property cant put no park there. A deputy would have to stay down there 24/7 to keep the drunks and such out of there. Baldwin county is not going to pay for A permanent Barrineau park bridge lawman.
I also grew up on that river. Every weekend our whole family would go and spend the day cooking out and swimming. As my children growing up, I used to take them when they were small until I felt unsafe going. But closing the area to public access will be giving the addicts and troublemakers the victory of the closure. Just as it was when I was a kid, the men ran off all the riffraff so that their families stayed safe. If the law enforcement on both Florida and Alabama sides would pull together, catch all these jerks that is causing the problems, arrest them and get their parents involved by fining them and holding them partly responsible for the destruction caused by the underaged hoodlems, then maybe, we can embark on giving all our children and grandchildren the great memories we had growing up.
It is one of the few places you can take your kids, and let them be kids. Close to home, and no life guards telling them no running, no yelling, etc. We go up almost every weekend. Even when you see someone drinking they seem to mind there own business. If the police are concerned about drug use let them stake it out and treat it like any other criminal act. Don’t close it to the majority of people who use it for a cheap day out.
I am in my late 20s and I use to go to the bridge and swim every summer with friends and family I remember even jumping off a few times. What good will it do to close the bridge the law needs to solve the problem b/c if the bridge is closed and nothing done with the trouble makers they will just go to another area and start mess……….Like I said the LAW needs to get behind this
YEa, I am in my late 20s and I remember every summer going to the bridge to swim and even jumping off the bridge a few times…. And those were good times no fighting and no BS going own. Whats closeing this off going to do sounds like the law needs to do something b/c closing this is just going to make for another problem somewhere else………Like I said the answer to the problem is the LAW…..
The possible closing of the Barrineau Park Bridge is clearly a case of an irresponsible minority of people causing trouble.
I say, give the bridge and the surrounding natural resources back to the responsible people who will have an interest in keeping it up. Don’t shut it down. Instead, open it up and make a park out of it:
– Clear out about 10 acres on each side
– Make designated parking areas
– Make designated ‘park’ areas where no vehicles are allowed
– Put in a wide, concrete boat ramp (similar to Molino’s Escambia River boat ramp)
– Make suitable overnight camping areas (similar to Cotton Lake on Escambia River)
This is a nice place for recreation. The Alabama side of the bridge has a large sand bar and a cold spring water creek that runs into the river.
Funding? It’s my observation that there are about a dozen ball parks in the area which sit empty 99 % of the time. Quit funding so many ball parks and build a park at Barrineau Park. Santa Rosa County has 24 boat ramps listed on their web site (http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/parks/boatramp.html). Yet, there is no public boat ramp or decent park on Perdido River.
I say, don’t close the bridge. Open the area up and make a park out of it. Enough people will use to justify building and maintaining a park.
M.M.
It is a shame all of the places we enjoyed as kids have to be done away with because of a few drug heads. If law enforcement would patrol the area by actually getting out of their cars and checking IDs it wouldn`t take but a week or so and the rift raft would find another hang out. We pay taxes up here why cant we get our benefits from it( use of law enforcement).
I’m new around here and just found out about this place a few weeks back, my family love to come here.
There are not a lot of places to go anymore, so come on people stop ruining for others and lets keep this place good and going. Thanks
I remember being down at this river during ‘08 and there were people drinking, doing drugs, and just being destructive to the property. The violence and drugs etc., have been there for a while. Why is it just now a priority to clean this place up? Granted, the illegal happenings that occur at that bridge and on that river are a clearly a problem, but a lot of the people that go down there are there for their kids to show them how to swim, or just enjoy the river alone [which I am surly not saying is the best place for that]. If the cops/authorities really want to make a difference, then they should punish the ones causing the negative on everything. Half the people going to that river are the teenagers from around Molino, which do a lot of the damage. i.e. throwing left over beer bottles at the bridge for them to shatter in the water, throwing drinking parties, or fighting. While this is TRUE too, MOST of the people that use the bridge and road for important, valid reasons are the more older and more mature people of this area and even by by-passers. Why punish the ones doing right, when there are so many that are doing wrong? Its not fair, and besides.. they’re kids, since when is it not alright for kids to earn the consequences for their own actions? The ones causing the trouble are old enough to know right from wrong, so they are the ones taking the risk of getting caught up with the law when they are at a public area doing the things that are obviously not allowed. The police/law enforcement know that the problems at that bridge and river will not stop, they may subside for a while, but the same old activities will still be there. They should go ahead shut the river down for a certain time frame [2 weeks or so] get the river side, bridge, etc. cleaned up so that when they open it back up the “good” people can come back to enjoy what is being taken from them in a cleaner environment. While this would be going on though, if the same happenings come back then those that are still trying to start the commotion should be dealt with accordingly by the police in such a way that they are banned from that area for however long decided by the police, but still let the others come to enjoy what was meant to be enjoyed. The Bridge is just like all the other bridges in the world, it has graffiti on it. To a teenager, or anyone else that is trying to express themselves, building a bridge is just screaming “COME WRITE ON ME, EVERYONE WILL SEE!” and thats basically what many people want, is just to have something they have done seen. Closing the bridge is a waste of time, why not close every bridge because theres writing on it. Leave the bridge open for the ones who need it. The river is a place for recreational enjoyment, which can have some down time for the better, but the bridge is an essential for many people around this area.
Basically, I say do not close the bridge- period. The river on the other hand can have some down time to let things settle and for some major clean up to occur.
—–this is my opinion, I am entitled to it.
We use that road because it cuts off 14 miles one way for us to go to church and visit friends at Belle Fountain. It has been a real problem getting through for the cars, drunks,drugged out, people since it got warm. Surely they will not deny people the usage of the road because of the problem. They need to do their job where ever it happens to be. The Fla. side has no problem! Take a lesson from them. We cannot use the road because it is not safe now. It is a public road so help is needed to keep it safe for the people who just want to drive across into Al. PLEASE FIND A BETTER SOLUTION THAN CLOSING IT DOWN.
I learned to swim in that river. I can remember everyone, families and all going down there to swim on Sat. and Sunday’s after the garden, yards, and fields were worked. I use to jump and yes dive off of that baby. We all had a great time. What a shame, but it has been coming for years…..about 20 years at that. It has gotten so bad my husband has told me one million times DO NOT CROSS that bridge, go around Cantonment. Cantonment use to be just as bad till they shut it down, now they just move up to “our area.” Both Florida and Alabama need to work together. Why not put an “undercover” in there boy that would be easy!!
Rita,
My memories are wonderful like yours. We rode horses in the river when I was 16 years old. I have great pictures of my 30 year old son when he was 2 years old playing in the river. Things change, it is a shame our kids and grandkids will not have the great memories that we have. Alabama and Florida both need to patrol better and try to clean it up. Why are we letting the drug dealers and “trash” ruin it for everyone?
Even if it’s shut down, it’s not going to stop the kids from coming there…it will just get worse, which will be worse on anyone living in the area. More messes will be made, more trash will be thrown out, and eventually more crimes will be committed due to the low flow of traffic. I would think they could put up some sort of security devices in this area, catch them on tape, either arrest them or fine them for whatever they are caught on tape doing….or hire a security guard…Florida has lottery money, put it to good use for a worthy cause
This is nothing new to that location. Over 20 years ago a friend of ours had to shoot a young adult (wounding him) and his friend when they tried to beat up his two young sons. The man shot was in his twenties and the minor boys were skinny pre-teens. Those men were there supplying alcohol to underage girls. ESC was called to the scene, and they managed to round up the whole lot of them with the help of a civilian who transported the bunch across to the Florida side where the patrol cars were waiting. Alabama never showed up! A few years before that, a gang of thugs decided to “close” the bridge to traffic that didn’t pay a fee to pass over until a group of Mennonites threw them off the bridge.
Was bayfront park closed because of the rift raft and perverts? no, law enforcement cleaned it up — they did their jobs. Baldwin county is just too lazy to patrol the bridge because it is in the middle of nowhere. will they close down a section of orange beach because of problems? think not. Another screw the rural folks. That bridge cuts 15 miles off my daily trip to baldwin county. Taxpayers paid to build that nice bridge, and i want to use it. Maybe we should shutdown the I-110 bridge through downtown. A lot of homeless people are sleeping under it.
This is so sad and distressing. My first memories of life was swimming, fishing, and even my Mother washing clothes in Perdido River at the Barrineau Park bridge (the old wooden one). We lived in a little house by Mr. Burly White’s store (all of that’s gone now). We would walk the railroad track to visit relatives up the way. I look at the background of these pictures and still see the beauty of the woods and the river and I think, why? How can it be more fun to tear up and destroy than to just enjoy it? To take care of it and keep it clean? I can remember that my daddy and a lot of the men “back when” would go for miles down Perdido River and keep the drifts cleared out. You could start at one end of Perdido and go to the other in a boat with no problems. There were many places up and down the river to swim, put a boat in the river & camp (everyone cleaned up there mess before leaving it, too).
I’ve observed over the past forty years how all of this has changed and what it’s come down to and the change has been definitely for the worse. More and more because of the rift-raft coming in, the decent people have been pushed out because most of them didn’t want their kids subjected to the drugs, alcohol, sex & trash littering the river. Now almost all of the river has had to be closed off, not just the Barrineau Park bridge.
I appreciate that the Escambia law enforcement has done a lot to clean up the FL side, but in defense of AL, it wasn’t always on the AL side of the river that was the problem. If I remember correctly, there was a time when the bridge had to be closed from the FL side. And if the bridge has to be closed from either side, it’s still heartbreaking.
FL and AL law enforcement definitely have my approval to go in there and do pretty much whatever it takes to get it cleaned up from all the “trash”, and I don’t mean the paper and bottle kind of trash.
So, does this mean we can shut down all crime problem areas? You know Escambia county has a lot of tax payer money tied up in that bridge, come on Alabama get with the program, and patrol the area like Escambia does – end of problem.
This is an example of a very few ruinning for everybody else. There was a time that we took the kids down there to go swimming but then riftraft showed up and started breaking beer bottles and fighting and all the other stuff and made it unsafe to bring the family anymore so we just quit going. What a shame.