Pride event attendees want to know why Main Street Bridge was raised during planned celebration

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Participants in a June 1 Pride event in downtown Jacksonville are questioning why the Main Street Bridge was raised an hour ahead of its scheduled closure.

More than a hundred members of the local LGBTQ+ community planned to use flashlights to light the bridge to mark the start of Pride month, but they say they were forced to abruptly change their plans.

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Matthew McAllister is one of the organizers of the Main Street Bridge lighting that was scheduled for Sunday. He said he learned days after they planned their event that the Florida Department of Transportation would close the bridge on Sunday at 9 p.m., forcing them to hold the event earlier.

The organizers showed Action News Jax messages from Jacksonville City Councilman Jimmy Peluso, showing that they were all clear to move forward as long as they were out of the way and off the span by 9 p.m.

The group said they attempted to follow through with their event – until the Main Street Bridge was raised.

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“Maybe about halfway up the pedestrian walkway, we noticed the arms coming down, and then the bridge span here begins to lift,” McAllister said.

“There was no boat that was passing underneath, so this wasn’t for that,” he said.

McAllister said from there the group detoured, turned around, and finished their event on the Acosta Bridge instead.

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Local Pride members taking part still want to know why access to the bridge was blocked at the same time they’d planned their demonstration.

Action News Jax reached out to FDOT, which controls the raising and lowering of the center span, to ask why the bridge was closed when people planned to gather on it.

We reached out to FDOT on Monday, and on Tuesday, and FDOT spokesperson responded to our questions, saying they had received our request and would get back to us. We are still waiting to hear back.

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