Miami bridges locking down ahead of Nicole. What to know about timing and who’s affected

Drawbridges across the Miami River and Intracoastal Waterway in Miami-Dade County will be closed to boaters on Tuesday in preparation for Subtropical Storm Nicole’s tropical-storm force winds.

Boaters need to find safe harbor before lockdowns begin at 10 a.m.

The first bridge to be locked down is the Tamiami Canal bridge, followed by the 27th Avenue Bridge and all other Miami River bridges, according to the county.

The shutdowns will affect marine traffic, not pedestrians, cyclists or drivers using the bridges.

Drawbridges over the Miami River will be closed “sequentially starting from the westernmost to the easternmost bridge (upstream to downstream),” the county said in a news release. “Drawbridges over the Intracoastal Waterway will be closed sequentially starting from the southernmost to the northernmost bridge.”

Officials say the closings will remain for the duration of Nicole’s severe weather and until officials can assess drawbridges and waterways for damage after the storm.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 7:02 AM.

Michelle Marchante

Miami Herald

305-376-2708

Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.  Support my work with a digital subscription