The U.S. Coast Guard office in Miami is in the initial phase of considering changing opening times of the two Anna Maria Island-mainland bridges.
The first step will be to meet with the Florida Department of Transportation, which owns the bridges, for a review of bridge logs and how frequently the bridges are opened for boat traffic.
“We already know based on the information we’ve received in the past from FDOT that there is a lot of traffic on these bridges, so I’m not even sure I even need to get the vehicle traffic logs,” Michael Lieberum, a Coast Guard bridge management specialist in Miami, said in a July 28 phone interview.
According to the DOT, on average, vehicles make 13,800 trips daily on Cortez Road, west of the Cortez Bridge in Bradenton Beach, and 14,500 daily trips across the Anna Maria Island Bridge.
From 6 a.m.-7 p.m. May 16-Jan.14, the Anna Maria Island and Cortez bridges open on demand from boaters on the hour and 20 and 40 minutes after the hour, and on signal between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to the Manatee County Boater’s Guide.
From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Jan.15-May 15, the bridges open on signal from boaters on the hour and half hour.
Local transportation and planning officials want to reduce the number of daytime openings year-round to no more than twice an hour.
Lieberum said Coast Guard Capt. Gregory Case of the Port of St. Petersburg will make the final decision.
“Quite frankly, it’s his waterway and he knows the local area better than we do,” Lieberum said. “Once we do the initial evaluation, if it’s determined that we should move forward with this — which we probably will — we’ll draft a notice of proposed rulemaking to be published in the Federal Register and in the local notice to mariners.
Then everyone will be given an opportunity to comment on the possible changes. Boaters and motorists can share what they know with the Coast Guard. Whether a public meeting is held depends on the content of the printed comments.
“This is not a short process and the MPO is aware of this,” Lieberum said of the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, which prioritizes the funding of state roads. “We’ve been through this before with other bridges. However if you don’t get started, it never gets changed.”
The Coast Guard is looking into changing the opening times of three drawbridges — the Anna Maria Island Bridge, the Cortez Bridge and possibly the bridge to Siesta Key in Sarasota County — but not the Longboat Pass Bridge, which connects Bradenton Beach and Longboat Key.
Because it’s an entrance bridge for the Intracoastal Waterway — boats enter Sarasota Bay from the Gulf of Mexico — it may not be possible to include the Longboat Pass Bridge in the changes, Lieberum said. Either Longboat Pass Bridge or New Pass Bridge need to “open on demand” and Longboat Pass Bridge currently has that distinction.
If the Coast Guard determines changes to opening times are warranted, the process could take up to a year.