KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The NASA Causeway bridge leading to and from the Kennedy Space Center is now complete, months ahead of schedule.

What You Need To Know

  • The more than 4,000-foot bridge spans the Indian River on State Road 405

  • With more than 150 launches expected this year, this new, larger bridge is needed

  • The new NASA Causeway bridge is taller and wider than the previous drawbridge built in the early 1960s at the dawn of the Space Race

The more than 4,000-foot bridge spans the Indian River on State Road 405.

The new, larger bridge is needed because of the massive growth of the high-tech corridor in and around the spaceport.

Last year alone, there were 93 launches with 2,700,000 pounds of space cargo. More than 150 launches are expected this year.

Vaya Space is growing by leaps and bounds. It considers itself the Space Coast’s hometown launch company.

It is building Dauntless rockets that will soon fly to space from historic Launch Complex 13 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

“What we have here is a prototype of our first-stage liquid oxygen tank, for the Dauntless launch vehicle, that will carry all the oxidizer that will fuel our six hybrid engines on the first stage,” said Vaya Space Chief Executive Officer Rob Fabian.

Its launch pad is less than 20 miles away from its design, manufacturing and testing facilities. So, it will transport the rockets to the Cape on its future transporter.

“It will literally take it from the manufacturing facility here, to the payload processing facility, out to the pad, erect the vehicle, then launch from there,” Fabian said.

The new NASA Causeway bridge is taller and wider than the previous drawbridge built in the early 1960s at the dawn of the Space Race.

Thanks to the partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation, NASA and Space Florida, it will allow drastically larger-sized payloads and rocket components to travel to and from the spaceport.

“The spaceport is growing. We're seeing more launches all the time, and this project was a perfect example of how it relates to the rapidly growing space industry and how we serve that need for Brevard County,” said Cindi Lane of FDOT District 5.

Since the first part of the bridge was finished in 125 days ahead of schedule in 2023, FDOT says more than 1,000 payloads of rocket components have gone over the bridge.

Now that the westbound lanes are open for traffic, expect that number to rapidly increase.

“We're very excited that the two spans are now open, and we're looking forward to finishing up the last finishing touches on the project in the next few months,” Lane said.

FDOT completed the nearly 3-mile widening of Space Commerce Way in late 2024, expanding it from two to four lanes to accommodate oversized loads headed to KSC and Exploration Park.

Fabian said it’s a win for his growing commercial space company.

“Launch companies, satellite companies, accessing those manufacturing areas over in Exploration Park, and out to the launch sites, this is a boon to a lot of companies here,” he said.