Ask any islander, getting on and off the island can be a real pain during peak traffic.
At the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting June 22 at the Holiday Inn, 8009 15th St. E., Sarasota, board members passed a resolution on Anna Maria Island and Cortez bridges drawbridge activity and discussed Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy’s ideas on a water-taxi.
Both drawbridges can open on demand by boaters at 20-minute intervals between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. May 16-Jan. 14. The intervals for opening the bascule for boaters Jan. 15-May 15 are 30 minutes between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The bridges open to boaters on demand from sunset to sunrise.
A new resolution from the MPO endorses a change in operations, proposing the bridges open no more than once each 30-minutes year-round.
Research Data Services, a service used by the Manatee County Tourist Development Council, found the traditional Florida tourist season — formerly January to May — no longer occurs.
The traditional peaks and valleys of tourist numbers are gone. People are visiting year-round, according to RDS.
The resolution’s wording states, “Traffic congestion and delays … have increased and are no longer seasonal in nature.”
But making and approving an MPO resolution won’t be enough to change the bridge schedule.
The decision to change the drawbridge’s schedule will have to come from the U.S. Coast Guard.
MPO planning manager David Hutchinson said the MPO has been in preliminary contact and he’s hopeful the Coast Guard will look at the bridge schedule.
“We’ve been working with the Florida Department of Transportation to collect as much data about traffic as we can,” he said. “This should give them an idea about how busy the traffic is.”
Hutchinson said in the past it’s taken the Coast Guard almost a year-and-a-half to make a change to the bridge opening schedule.
“We can’t predict what’s going to happen. We can only hope for the best.”
Murphy brought up the idea of a water-taxi coming from Bradenton to Anna Maria.
“The idea now is for the taxi to begin in downtown Bradenton,” said Murphy. “People can park and catch a ride there.”
Murphy said he wants the water-taxi to serve the Twin Dolphin Marina area because there is plentiful parking at the location.
He said he wants to see multiple stops, too, as well as service from Palmetto at the Regatta Pointe Marina. Another pickup location could be on the Palma Sola Causeway.
In Anna Maria, the taxi would have to land either at the marina near Galati Marine, 900 S. Bay Blvd., or at one of the jetties near the Lake LaVista inlet on Tampa Bay in Anna Maria.
Murphy said the jetties would have to be extended and converted for safe boat and pedestrian use.
Murphy hopes employees coming to work on Anna Maria Island as well as tourists and residents would find the water-taxi useful.
He said he’s had a lot of interest from people that either are in or had been in the water-taxi business. But he’s not ready to discuss details yet.
“Everything would have to subsidized by the county and with state and federal grants,” Murphy said. “But it can be done.”
The next MPO board meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday, July 27, at the Holiday Inn Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, 8009 15th St. E., Sarasota.