The Island Transportation Planning Organization has gone on the record opposing a proposed megabridge between Cortez and Bradenton Beach.
Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore appeared before the ITPO at its meeting Sept. 16, asking for support in blocking plans by the Florida Department of Transportation to build a 65-foot-clearance fixed span to replace the Cortez Bridge.
“This is our last chance, truthfully, in my lifetime and your lifetime that we can protect the village of Cortez,” she said.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth and Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie voted in favor of a motion to support a 45-foot-clearance drawbridge as a compromise to the megabridge.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, the third voting member of the ITPO, was absent.
The vote solely expressed the desires of the ITPO and does not compel the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization to take action.
The ITPO was created to facilitate representation of the three island municipalities on the MPO, and has only one seat. The three mayors constitute the ITPO and rotate membership on the MPO. Chappie is the current seated representative on the MPO board.
Chappie raised the ITPO’s opposition to the high bridge at the Sept. 23 MPO meeting, citing the island organization’s “deep concerns.”
“We hope upon hope that the powers that be reconsider,” he said.
He pointed out “how this will significantly change the character of the two communities out there with these decisions that were made for us.”
Neither the MPO nor DOT District 1 Secretary L.K. Nandam addressed Chappie’s comments.
Chappie wrote a letter to the DOT in May 2018 outlining the Bradenton Beach opposition to the DOT decision.
He spoke against the span again at the ITPO meeting, saying “The high bridge is just going to destroy the ambiance of our two communities,” Chappie said.
Titsworth said the DOT has been determined in its efforts for the big bridge.
“They had their minds made up from the beginning,” she said.
But Whitmore said there is time to change the DOT’s plan.
“I have nothing against the DOT,” she said. “But I know you can still change it.”
Whitmore is the only commissioner on the seven-member county board to oppose the megabridge.
The DOT announced its plans last year for the bridge replacement. The agency says it expects to release a project development and environment study within the next few months.
A $6.4 million contract for design has been awarded, but design work cannot start until the PD&E is made public.
The DOT is further along in its plans for replacing the Anna Maria Island Bridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed span.
A PD&E study for the replacement of that bridge received final approval in 2016 and work has begun on a $6.2 million design plan for the fixed-span. That design work is not expected to be finished until fiscal 2022-23, DOT spokesman Brian R. Rick told The Islander last month.
The DOT budgeted funding for a study of the Longboat Pass Bridge this month, but a PD&E study is not expected to start for a few months and the agency has not decided what type of bridge will be built.
Past studies on the AMI and Cortez bridges included a no-build option, rehabilitation, a mid-rise drawbridge and a high fixed-span bridge.
The three island bridges were built in the mid-1950s and have undergone considerable repair work through the years.
FISH also takes up opposition to DOT’s megabridge plans for Cortez
By Ryan Paice
Islander Reporter
One Cortez group is taking up arms — again.
The idea of a megabridge replacing the Cortez Bridge has drawn the ire of the Florida Institute of Saltwater Heritage.
FISH board members discussed Sept. 9 ways the nonprofit could oppose the state’s preliminary plans to replace the current drawbridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge.
FISH formed in 1991 to protect the village of Cortez from encroaching development and preserve the village lifestyle, settled by commercial fishers in the late 1800s. The nonprofit owns or manages several properties in Cortez, including the 100-acre FISH Preserve, a boat shop, Fishermen’s Hall and adjacent offices, as well as manage most of the former Cortez fire station, now a community center.
The Florida Department of Transportation project, pending the release of its development and environment study, has suggested the high fixed-span bridge would improve traffic flow for vehicles and boats.
However, FISH members agreed, the proposed bridge would negatively impact Cortez.
Vice president Jane von Hahmann said the bridge will impact traffic within the village because the proposed ramp would cut off several roads.
She said FISH and the village might be able to oppose the proposed bridge because it could impact the historical and archeological value of the area.
Von Hahmann said Katie Pierola, a former mayor of Bradenton Beach, called her with a suggestion that FISH ask Bradenton Beach city commissioners to adopt a resolution in opposition to the DOT’s recommended replacement bridge.
Board member Linda Molto observed that Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie has voiced his opposition to the DOT’s plans for the bridge.
Von Hahmann said in a Sept. 9 interview with The Islander that FISH members plan to attend a Bradenton Beach City Commission meeting and, she added, “We’ll still do battle right up until the day.”
The bottom line is that the Cortez Bridge is mostly for Longboat Key. We watch most of the traffic go South to LBK and the looong lines coming back each evening. They NEED their own bridge from the mainland! Put FDOT on that !!!
Any new, higher bridge will spoil Cortez FOREVER and harm Bradenton Beach also. Where will all these cars go after they get on the island? The roads on the island can’t handle more traffic.
How about a new megabridge to Longboat Key instead? Tie it into El Conquistador Parkway.