The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization board made its 180-page list of priority projects official June 19, then took the summer off.
The MPO board next meets in late September.
Before adjourning, the board adopted its annual transportation and improvement program. State and federal laws mandate the TIP schedule of projects be made public in order to receive federal funding.
The TIP lists regionally significant transportation projects in the metro area, including the barrier island mobility study.
The TIP adoption by MPO doesn’t make it official. Public hearings will be held later this year by the Florida Department of Transportation.
The $675,000 barrier island mobility study that began in May ranked No. 1 on the major improvement project TIP list, which outlines the sequence in which projects should advance in a five-year work cycle. The study also had the No. 1 ranking on the list in 2016.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy represented the three Anna Maria Island cities while attending his first MPO meeting. He said he was “kind of disappointed” in the lack of detail about the study.
Project manager Tricia Labud was not at the meeting, although she had been scheduled to speak.
David Gwynn, director of transportation for the DOT’s District 1 office in Bartow, gave a brief report on the study.
“They kind of glossed over it,” Murphy said. “How big of a priority is it to them when they wouldn’t come equipped to speak on it? Everything else they had was pretty detailed.”
Manatee County Commission Chair Betsy Benac was more patient. She’s been to many MPO meetings and knows the process is far from fast.
“It was a pretty brief report but we know it’s going forward,” Benac said. “It was encouraging that it’s moving along. I think the DOT has been as responsive as I’ve ever seen them.”
Gwynn said it’s early to expect a lot of answers from the study, which will eventually provide potential solutions as to how infrastructure upgrades could ease the traffic crunch gripping Anna Maria Island.
The study began May 15. The state funded 80 percent with the MPO covering 20 percent.
The DOT will review travel patterns, destination points, transit, parking, bicycling and pedestrian needs, event operations and land-development codes.
Six public meetings are promised by DOT during the study.
Murphy said he has high hopes the study will provide answers.
“For $675,000, I’m hoping we have all of our problems solved and walk off happy into the sunset,” he said. “If you spend that much money on something, you would think you’re really going to get some solid answers. With this traffic study, I’m optimistic great solutions will be found.”
Murphy is not, however, waiting the entire summer to hear those solutions, he said. He will be in regular contact with the MPO.
“It’s not my nature to wait,” he said.
One other Holmes Beach project ranked highly in the TIP program. The Island SUNTrail loop ranked No. 1 in Manatee County by the Florida Department of Transportation on its list of multi-use trail projects.
The AMI loop will run north from the Longboat Pass Bridge to 27th Street North on Gulf Drive/State Road 789 in Bradenton Beach to Holmes Beach, continuing north to the Marina Drive intersection.
The SunTrail will consist of two 11-foot wide vehicle lanes with a 3-foot separation on each side for a paved 10-foot wide bike path on one side of Gulf Drive and a 10-foot sidewalk on the other.
The trail funding request is not finalized, but it is estimated at $12.9 million by Lynn Burnett, contract engineer to the three island cities and a member of the MPO technical advisory board.
