The Chitty Chatty Bridge opened to the public Friday, uniting the Villages of Chitty Chatty and Bradford with Lake Deaton Plaza and The Villages north of State Road 44. It is now possible to take a golf cart from the south end of the Village of Bradford all the way to Orange Blossom Gardens on the Historic Side of The Villages.
The Chitty Chatty Bridge is the first golf cart bridge over State Road 44 and will be joined by the Brownwood Bridge over State Road 44 and the Water Lily Bridge over the Florida Turnpike.
The first golf cart bridge over U.S. Hwy. 27/441 was built in the 1990s. It united the Historic Side of The Villages with Spanish Springs.
The new bridges are wider than the first cart bridge. They also have a more gradual slope so both carts and cyclists will have an easier time climbing over the bridge.
The first golf cart bridge was named after State Rep. Everett Kelly, who was instrumental in getting permitting necessary to build the golf cart bridge. The process had been so difficult that for years Mark Morse and his sisters joked they would never attempt to build another golf cart bridge over a major highway. That changed when they decided to plow south of State Road 44 after the death of their father, H. Gary Morse.
The cart path south into both Chitty Chatty and Bradford weaves between The Villages next to a woods, ponds and marshlands. The path has been completed south of Bradford but is not yet open to the public.
