Opponents of the planned Cortez megabridge have taken their fight to federal court.
Former Manatee County Commissioners Joe McClash and Jane von Hahmann and two long-time Cortez residents filed a lawsuit March 10 in U.S. District Court in Tampa. They’re opposed to the Florida Department of Transportation’s plan to replace the Cortez Bridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed span.
The high bridge opponents want the DOT to instead build a 35-foot-clearance bascule bridge.
“There’s a viable option that the DOT has,” McClash told The Islander March 13. “It’s not like we don’t want you to build the bridge at all. The bridge, in reality, needs to be replaced.”
Von Hahmann, a Cortez resident for 43 years, said the big bridge will affect her personally, especially if increased traffic causes backups on Cortez Road.
“They’re impacting my quality of life and the value of the historical village,” she said in a March 13 interview with The Islander. “I’m going to suffer even more because of pollution from cars sitting there.”
The DOT did not answer a request for comment before The Islander’s publishing deadline but has declined on two previous occasions in the past few months to weigh in on litigation against the megabridge by the four opponents.
In addition to the federal suit, McClash, von Hahmann and 35-year Cortez resident Linda Molto and 20-year resident Joe Kane have asked the Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal to grant a hearing by a state administrative officer on whether to overturn the DOT’s plans. The opponents filed the appeal Feb. 14 and McClash estimates it could take the court three months to render a decision.
The DOT maintains legal challenges in state court are invalid because the agency is acting on behalf of the federal government its replacement plan.
McClash said he talked by telephone with DOT District Secretary LK Nandam and other agency officials Jan. 24. The DOT requested the conference, McClash said, to make sure megabridge opponents understood their rights to file a federal challenge.
“I got the sense they wanted to try to get us to drop the (state) appeal and just do the federal complaint,” McClash said.
Von Hahmann said the bridge opponents filed the federal suit because the DOT “required it of us.”
“They told us, ‘You’re not going to win in the state of Florida because we’re acting for the federal government,’” von Hahmann said. “I’m not sure how you separate those powers. It’s federal money but a state agency.”
Megabridge opponents maintain the high span will destroy the character of the fishing village, designated a federal historic district in 1995. McClash also said in his federal filing that the large bridge would hurt businesses because they would be more difficult to reach and that the high span would damage the fragile coastal environment.
Many Cortez residents have fought a span since the DOT revealed a previous replacement megabridge in 1989. The agency withdrew that plan after fierce opposition from Cortez and Bradenton Beach residents.
The DOT then turned its attention to replacing the Anna Maria drawbridge on State Road 64 with a 65-foot-clearance fixed span. Planning for that bridge is now a few years further along than for the Cortez span.
McClash, who served on the county commission 1990-2012, noted in his federal filing that he was involved in a compromise with DOT officials in the early 1990s that the Anna Maria Island Bridge would become a fixed span and the Cortez one would remain a drawbridge. That deal was made to avoid future challenges, the brief says.
The agreement was verbal, McClash told The Islander.
“Technically, there is no binding agreement,” he said. “But people should be aware there were agreements.”
Officials on Longboat Key have supported the high span because motorists rely on the Cortez Bridge and the Longboat Pass Bridge to access the town at the northern end. The DOT has announced it is conducting formal studies to also replace the Longboat Pass drawbridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed span.
“It’s being driven a lot by Longboat Key,” von Hahmann said. “But I don’t think it provides a big enough advantage.”
Von Hahmann and other critics of the Cortez high span note that it would replace a two-lane bridge with another two-lane bridge. And westbound motorists still would have to contend with a chokepoint where Cortez Road meets the two-lane Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach.
“They’re not solving a problem,” she said. “They’re exacerbating westbound traffic. They’re not solving Longboat Key’s problem.”
The DOT contends that not having to stop traffic while the drawbridge is raised would save motorists time. But critics say those time savings are negligible, particularly because more vessels would not need the bridge raised if it has a 35-foot clearance as compared with the current 17 feet.
“A 35-foot drawbridge would reduce the existing bridge openings and reduce traffic impacts,” the lawsuit states.
In addition, the suit states, a 65-foot-clearance fixed span would prevent boats needing higher clearance from passing underneath.
The transportation agency announced in October 2019 it would start work on a $6.2 million design plan to replace the 63-year-old Cortez Bridge.
McClash filed a petition less than three weeks later for an administrative hearing on 25 objections to the plan.
The DOT rejected that petition Nov. 13 and McClash appealed Nov. 22. The transportation agency rejected it Dec. 10. McClash then appealed to the state court.
The Cortez Bridge underwent major repairs in 1996, 2010 and 2015. The DOT says it’s not economically viable to make further repairs.
The agency estimates new construction will cost more than $70 million and wouldn’t be completed for at least another 10 years.
McClash and von Hahmann are guardedly optimistic about their legal challenges.
“It’s a chance you have to take,” von Hahmann said. “I’m hopeful they’ll have an open mind and open ears.”
Said McClash: “The more research I did, the better I felt about it.”