Construction congestion is here to stay in Bradenton Beach.
Bradenton Beach is facing multiple infrastructure projects headed by Manatee County and the Florida Department of Transportation that could impede traffic flow for years to come.
A county gravity sewer line replacement project, a DOT Complete Streets initiative and a DOT Cortez Bridge replacement project are on the calendar starting now and running through 2028.
Underway now: A Manatee County capital improvements project to replace a gravity sewer line is staging along Gulf Drive South, with contractor Woodruff & Sons utilizing Cortez Beach parking for machinery and components over the next several months.
The construction will impact traffic on Gulf Drive South through Bradenton Beach for 18-24 months.
The county began the work in January, with plans to replace sewer lines from Sixth Street South to 13th Street South. The work, which requires detour lanes for north- and southbound traffic through Cortez Beach, is scheduled to be completed in July 2024.
Parking may become an issue for beachgoers.
Bradenton Beach Police Chief John Cosby
also voiced concern for those who live on the side streets.
“They are not going to have access to their road,” he said. “My concern is for the elderly or handicapped who live along those roads. It’s going to be quite a trek.”
Cosby said the trenching along Gulf Drive and down the side streets most likely will occur in March or April.
“We’ve had some discussion about trams and some other things,” the chief said.
He said he plans to have officers do a door-to-door on the impacted streets so we can plan accordingly to help them get to and from their residences.
Complete Streets
DOT project manager Patrick Bateman, in a Feb. 10 interview with The Islander, said the process for the state’s Complete Streets program in Bradenton Beach will continue for six years, although the first years will focus on a PD&E study and design.
A PD&E study assists the DOT in determining the location, as well as the social, economic and environmental impacts of the project.
Bateman said actual roadway construction likely will begin in 2027-28 but no dates are set.
The federally funded program will be a redesign for improved access to sidewalks and bicycle lanes, providing paved shoulders, multiuse paths, bus lanes, transit stops and crossings, medians, signals and curbs.
Cortez Bridge
Bradenton Beach also will be impacted when the DOT begins the replacement of the Cortez Bridge in late 2025 with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge.
The project includes the bridge and approaches from State Road 789/Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach to 123rd Street West in Cortez, about 0.9 mile.
The design is expected to be completed by mid-2025, followed by construction by late 2025, according to the DOT’s five-year work program. Construction is expected to cost $76,998,790, and funding already has the governor’s OK.
Bradenton Beach Area Merchants president Sherman Baldwin, in a Feb. 11 interview with The Islander, said, “My gut reaction is that the disruption is scary as a businessman. It could slow business down during the periods of the heaviest construction and obstruction for access to the infrastructure but it comes with the absolute realization that this has to happen.”
Baldwin said he felt the businesses and residents of Bradenton Beach would embrace the changes brought on by the various projects.
“We’re going to do what we can to mitigate the long-term fears that we all have. This is all something that has a degree of inevitability,” Baldwin said.
“Time and change are coming and we’re going to have to embrace it as best we can because it’s coming no matter what,” he continued.
Baldwin also said he felt now is the time for local and county governments to implement alternative forms of mass transit to the island cities.
“Ultimately, alternative forms of transportation will have to be addressed,” Baldwin said.