From the Pensacola News Journal on October 31, 2011

The superintendent of the Gulf Islands National Seashore expects to get the OK today from the National Park Service to build a ferry pier at Fort Pickens with $2.8 million secured last year.

A ferry system to shuttle passengers from Pensacola Beach across Pensacola Bay to downtown or Pensacola Naval Air Station has been studied for more than 30 years.

"The ferry pier has been included in all our planning documents since the early days of the seashore," Superintendent Dan Brown said. "The pier is one very significant step in implementing the system."

A ferry system would resolve one of Fort Pickens' biggest problems: providing alternative transportation to the popular park when the only road washes out during storms.

"We have more than 700,000 visitors coming to Fort Pickens a year," he said. "It's the most heavily visited site in the National Seashore. The idea is to continue that access."

If the Park Service's development advisory board approves today, Brown will green-light the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to seek bids for a contractor.

Construction could begin in January and take six to eight months.

The next hurdle would be buying at least two or three ferry boats. The cost of the boats has not been determined because the type and size needed has not been nailed down, Brown said.

Brown has been making the rounds drumming up support from City of Pensacola, Escambia County, Santa Rosa Island Authority, and NAS officials. Everyone wants the ferry system, he said.

"All of us are looking at grant sources to see if we can get funding for boats," he said.

Brown has a strong advocate in Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.

"(The National Seashore) is a huge draw, and being able to connect that beautiful beach with our downtown would be a tremendous opportunity," he said. "This is an issue that I am constantly bringing up in Tallahassee and in Washington, D.C., and I hope that we can all work together to make this happen."

Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson is convinced a ferry system will be in place in 2013, with the Seashore spearheading the effort.  more… 

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