Wabasso Causeway Park on County Road 510

Wabasso Causeway Park is a 13.4 acre Indian River County park spread over four lobes along County Road 510, where the Wabasso Causeway crosses the Indian River Lagoon, open daily from 7 a.m. to sunset.

The county park page gives two street names for the same spot: its header reads 3105 Wabasso Bridge Road (County Road 510), and its description reads 3105 Wabasso Beach Road (CR 510) (Indian River County). County Road 510 is the constant in both. From Sebastian, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service directions to its Pelican Island refuge run along County Road 512 (Sebastian Boulevard), right on 90th Avenue, then straight onto County Road 510 toward A1A (USFWS, Pelican Island), the road that crosses the Wabasso Causeway.

Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the Indian River County website (Wabasso Causeway Park page).

The Wabasso Causeway Park boat ramp is on the south-east lobe, the same lobe as the restrooms, and Indian River County lists the water at 6 feet deep at the end of the ramp.

The county lists boat trailer parking spaces for the ramp but does not publish a count (Indian River County). Boaters leaving the Wabasso ramp are in manatee protection waters. Florida rule 68C-22.007 sets year-round Slow Speed zones in two areas that meet at the causeway: the Indian River from Big Slough to the Wabasso Beach Road Bridge, and from the Wabasso Beach Road Bridge south to Erwin Cove (Fla. Admin. Code R. 68C-22.007).

Each zone is drawn by shoreline distances, island outlines and channel markers rather than covering every inch of water. North of the bridge the rule names Collins Hole, Turtle Pen Slough and waters within 600 feet of shorelines, and south of it the zone sits east of a line 100 feet east of the Intracoastal Waterway channel (Fla. Admin. Code R. 68C-22.007). A practical reading for small boats launching at Wabasso Causeway Park: both zones meet at the bridge, so the posted manatee zone signs are worth checking before opening up.

Indian River County lists beaches on the river at Wabasso Causeway Park for wading, fishing, sunbathing and canoes, along with plenty of shoreline for fishing and canoe launching.

The shoreline gives paddlers canoe launching spots, while the ramp on the south-east lobe, with boat trailer parking, serves trailered boats (Indian River County). No lifeguards are listed for the causeway beaches; a guarded county beach on the same road is Wabasso Beach Park at 1820 Wabasso Beach Road, staffed from 9:10 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. (Indian River County).

County ordinances limit what happens on the Wabasso Causeway lobes. Pets are not allowed (205.03.22), nor alcohol (205.03.26), and the park page also bans open fires, camping, overnight parking, fireworks, remote controlled aircraft and golfing (Indian River County). Unlike the county beach parks, the causeway page does not list a ban on equestrian activities.

The Wabasso Causeway Boat Ramp is a listed access point to the Indian River-Malabar to Vero Beach Aquatic Preserve, a state preserve established in 1970 in Brevard and Indian River counties.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection lists the preserve at 28,000 acres of Indian River Lagoon estuary and says the four lagoon aquatic preserves were designated Outstanding Florida Waters in 1979 (Florida DEP). The same agency's coastal access guide for Indian River County gives the preserve as 29,000 acres, on a page last modified on Feb. 24, 2025 (Florida DEP Coastal Access Guide), so two DEP pages disagree by 1,000 acres.

DEP explains that the lagoon's spoil islands were built from dredge material during construction of the Intracoastal Waterway, made of sand, shell, muck and limestone rubble, and have become an important biological and recreational part of the Indian River Lagoon (Florida DEP). The DEP coastal guide also lists the Indian River Blueway Trail and a segment of the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail in Indian River County (Florida DEP).

The current Wabasso causeway and high-arch bridge on County Road 510 date from 1970, when they replaced an earlier wooden bridge with a metal swing span.

The Florida Division of Historical Resources marker on County Road 510, placed in 2020, traces the crossing to Two Dollar Bluff, a landmark on the 1887 U.S. Geodetic map and a navigational aid for ships on the Indian River (Florida historical marker). The bluff was an Ais Indian midden on land owned by citrus grower A.B. Michael and became the Michael family dock; by 1927 most of the shell, pottery and bone in the midden had been hauled off as road material.

The marker says the dock gave way to the narrow wooden swing span bridge to the community of Orchid, which moved Indian River citrus from Orchid Island groves to the railroad and opened north Indian River County to tourism and land development (Florida historical marker). During World War II, only island residents could cross, and the bridge tender checked credentials. In 1970 the causeway and a high-arch span over the main channel replaced the old bridge, under the name Wabasso Bridge, and in 2020 the bridge was renamed the A.B. Michael Bridge.

Farther along Wabasso Beach Road sits the guarded Wabasso Beach Park, and the Pelican Island refuge trails sit 3.7 miles north of CR 510 on the Historic Jungle Trail.

Wabasso Beach Park is a 0.46 acre county beach at 1820 Wabasso Beach Road with 34 parking spaces, pavilions and restrooms (Indian River County). For the refuge, the Fish and Wildlife Service says to turn left (north) at A1A and, in 3.8 miles, left onto Jungle Trail; public use areas open daily from 7:30 a.m. until sunset, and the Centennial Trail address is 11455 Jungle Trail (USFWS, Pelican Island). A lagoon morning at the Wabasso Causeway lobes, a swim at Wabasso Beach and a Pelican Island walk can share one trip out of Sebastian.