St. Augustine’s Bridge of Lions will close overnight from 11:00 p.m. on January 27 to 5:00 a.m. on January 28 for preparations related to a seawall improvement project. The Florida Department of Transportation will oversee the careful removal and protection of the bridge’s marble lion statues, Firm and Faithful, during this time, according to the City of St. Augustine.
Vehicles and pedestrians are advised to use alternate routes during the overnight closure as part of the city’s Modification of Transportation plan. The lion statues, Firm and Faithful, will be carefully crated and moved to a secure city facility by LaRue House Movers & Sons, Inc., the contractor responsible for their transport. The preparations are designed to protect the statues during the upcoming construction work.
As part of the project, the lion statues will be removed and restored by local artists Joe Segal and Enzo Torcoletti. The statues, which have stood watch over the bridge for decades, previously underwent restoration and were reinstalled in 2011 after earlier refurbishment work in 2005. The current plan schedules their return to the bridge once the seawall project is complete.
The seawall improvement project, a collaboration between the Florida Department of Transportation, the National Park Service, and the City of St. Augustine, is scheduled to begin around February 1.
