The county was aiming to finish the Driftwood Road Municipal Parking Facility, a quarter mile from Miramar Regional Beach Access, in June 2026, in time for peak season. Under the county's current contract, all work is now due December 27, 2026. That means the biggest change to Miramar Beach's Gulf side in years will arrive in winter, when the visitors it was designed for have mostly gone home.
The timing reshapes the next three months on Scenic Gulf Drive. October is the last month of the old setup, with vendor chairs, seasonal lifeguards, and no county beach tram in Miramar Beach. Three festival weekends at Seascape Resort fall inside that same window. After that comes a quiet stretch when a new lot, a new tram stop, and possibly a new parking routine reach this part of the corridor with almost no crowd around them.
Why the lot missed summer
The county awarded Contract 24-34 to Elite Building Group in June 2025 at $2,210,719.12. On October 8, 2025, it issued a stop-work notice over unacceptable aggregate in the exfiltration system. County staff and the contractor worked out a corrective plan.
Change Order No. 1, dated June 1, 2026, added 243 calendar days for the material change. It left the contract price at $2,210,719.12 and set December 27, 2026 as the date for completion of all work. Walton County Tourism's project page now says the facility "is expected to be completed this winter." December 27 is a contract deadline. It is not an announced opening day, and neither county source gives a ribbon-cutting date.
The delay matters because the lot does more than add spaces. The 1.25-acre parcel at 76 Driftwood Road will hold 82 spaces, with dedicated parking for ADA, low-speed vehicles, and bicycles, plus EV charging. It will also have an air-conditioned public transit stop with restrooms and a sidewalk connection to Miramar Regional Beach Access. County Administrator Brian Kellenberger framed the project around the neighborhood itself at a ceremony last year, as WaltonNow reported:
"Moving here in the next year, year-and-a-half, we're going to solve a lot of problems in this area. ... We'll make this better for people who live, do business and have short-term rentals here, as well as the visitors who stay in their accommodations."
The timeline in that quote started in late 2025. The year-and-a-half he described runs into 2027, so the slip still fits his own window.
The tram network Miramar Beach isn't on yet
Walton County's free Beach Tram switched to its off-season schedule on October 1. Every route on that schedule starts from one of two lots, both in Santa Rosa Beach:
- 393 Beach Park and Ride, 1668 S County Hwy 393. The Ed Walline Express runs every 10 minutes from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Dune Allen Local runs hourly, stopping at Dune Allen, Fort Panic, Gulfview Heights, and Blue Mountain regional accesses before reaching Grayton.
- Grayton Beach Park and Ride, 1505 County Hwy 283 S. The Grayton Express runs to Bets "Beachmama" Haynes Regional Beach Access every 10 minutes from 6 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. The Blue Mountain Local runs hourly, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
At the bottom of that page, Driftwood Road is still listed as "Coming Soon." The county says it will get a direct route to Miramar Regional Beach Access and stops at other regional accesses along Scenic Gulf Drive, with "final routes coming soon." The county's February 2026 tram announcement also describes the Driftwood route as pending completion of construction.
The county hasn't settled the parking cost yet. Park Walton's current paid-lot list names Van Ness Butler, 393, and Grayton Beach Municipal, but not Driftwood. WJHG reported in April 2026 that those lots charge $5 an hour or $15 a day, that annual passes cost $5 for Walton County residents and $205 for nonresidents, and that tram rides are free. No published county decision says Driftwood will follow that model, so for now, Miramar Beach residents don't know what the lot will cost.
What changes on the sand after October 31
Two seasonal services on this stretch end with the month.
The first is chair service. Walton County's managed beach-equipment agreement runs vendor service from March 1 through October 31, seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The same agreement bars vendors from setting up before a customer arrives. It also bans "ghost equipment," meaning setups left unattended for 30 minutes or more. On the Miramar stretch, the county lists vendor-managed chair service at Scenic Gulf Drive Regional Beach Access, 907 Scenic Gulf Drive. The current agreement, held by Coastal Parasail, expires March 1, 2027. The county's August 2026 agenda asked commissioners for direction on renewing it. Whatever they decide will be in place before chairs return next spring.
The second is lifeguard coverage. County tourism says lifeguards staff the regional accesses from March through October. Miramar Beach Regional Beach Access #49 at 2375 Scenic Gulf Drive lists seasonal lifeguards, a surf-conditions flag, beach wheelchairs, an ADA boardwalk, parking, and restrooms. The flag and the boardwalk stay. The lifeguard stand goes quiet when the month ends.
That makes the Driftwood timing more striking. By the time the new lot and tram route open, the access they serve will have no chair service and no seasonal lifeguards. Regular users of #49 will have the new parking and tram stop to themselves through the winter, before the March restart brings both services and the crowds back.
The October calendar, in order
None of this means October is quiet. Seascape Resort has booked three multi-night festivals, and the Gulf-side restaurants are running fall programming of their own.
- Rockin' in Paradise with Styx & Friends, Seascape Resort, Thursday, October 8 through Saturday, October 10. Festival hours run roughly 5 to 10 p.m. The opening night falls one year to the day after the county stopped work at Driftwood Road.
- Shrimp Boil & Beach Bonfire, Whale's Tail Beach Bar & Grill, Saturday, October 17, 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $21.95 and cover a shrimp boil, live music, a bonfire, and a full bar. Whale's Tail sits on the water at 1373 Scenic Gulf Drive.
- Shinedown's Lunatic Ball Beach Weekend, Seascape Resort, Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25. The lineup includes Shinedown, Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm, Bush, Living Colour, Hanson, and From Ashes To New.
- Saturday, October 31, the last day of vendor chair service and of the March-through-October lifeguard season.
Seascape's first fall festival, Moon Crush: Odie's Beach Vacation, ran October 1 through 3. Counting it, three of October's five weekends carry multi-night festival programming at the resort, and each one runs into the evening. On those nights, residents who use Scenic Gulf Drive for an early dinner or a sunset walk will be sharing the corridor with festival crowds.
The Gulf-side tables that anchor the stretch
The restaurants along Scenic Gulf Drive don't follow the tram schedule or the vendor calendar, and they're the steadiest part of this corridor through the change.
- Pompano Joe's Seafood House, 2237 Scenic Gulf Drive, is the closest of the group to Miramar Regional Beach Access by street number. It serves Gulf seafood and has a souvenir apparel shop on site.
- Kenny D's New Orleans Cuisine, 2964 Scenic Gulf Drive, serves Cajun-style food with live music and is open for lunch and dinner.
- Surf Hut, 551 Scenic Gulf Drive, is a waterfront spot that serves lunch and dinner daily.
- Waffle House #788, 130 Scenic Gulf Drive, stays open 24 hours.
In Seascape Towne Centre, 2 Birds Coffee & Café is a locally owned breakfast-and-lunch café that closes on Tuesdays. Acme Oyster House is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mezcal Mexican Grill has a full bar and live entertainment, and it is taking reservations for a buffet-only Thanksgiving on November 26. Seascape Wine & Spirits sits behind the resort in the same center.
What else is on the county's list for Miramar Beach
Two more county projects for Miramar Beach are in earlier stages. The Legion Park Improvement Project at 119 Crest Drive, on the bay side, proposes a splash pad, new playground equipment, two launch piers, an added pickleball court, basketball court resurfacing, shade pavilions, and more parking for cars, trucks, and trailers. Its status is still "Pending permit." The most recent detailed update found, from the Tourist Development Council's November 4, 2025 meeting, said design was complete and the project was waiting on permit approval. In the meantime, the park still has its restrooms, parking, boat launch, basketball court, and playground.
Closer to Scenic Gulf Drive, the county's FY 2026–30 work plan lists a traffic signal at Holiday Road and CR 2378, the county road designation for Scenic Gulf Drive. The project is in design, with $30,000 of in-house funding in FY 2026. Neither project has a completion date. Driftwood Road is the only one of the three with a contract deadline, and that deadline is December 27.
For owners who rent out homes on the Gulf side of Miramar Beach, a new lot and tram stop near Access #49 will change how guests reach the beach next season. Christopher Harper and the Destin Dreamers team watch county projects like Driftwood Road as part of planning each property's rental season. To see how the stretch near your property is changing and what that means for next year's bookings, request a Valuation & Turnkey Management Plan.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
