Plans to build a roundabout at Broadway Street and Gulf of Mexico Drive on the north end of Longboat Key are advancing as state transportation officials finalize design and permitting.
The intersection sits just south of the Longboat Pass Bridge, where Broadway Street meets Gulf of Mexico Drive, a gateway between Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island that carries heavy seasonal traffic.
“This roundabout has been in the works for maybe 10 years,” Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier said in a March 3 interview with The Islander. “People in the north end, especially in the village, thought that it was an unsafe intersection, and it is a little bit of a blind turn there.”
The Florida Department of Transportation, which maintains Gulf of Mexico Drive as State Road 789, is leading the project and funding most of the work.
According to LBK engineer Jennifer Fehrs, the DOT has budgeted about $8.3 million for construction and environmental mitigation.
“Originally planned as a roundabout project only, the project has expanded to include about 2,000 feet of full, complete street corridor improvements,” Fehrs wrote in a March 3 email. The work will include an expanded multi-use trail along the east side of the roadway.
The roundabout is intended to improve safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
“A roundabout at Broadway Street creates safer vehicular turning movements, slows vehicles down coming to and from the bridge and creates safer bicycle and pedestrian crossings,” Fehrs wrote.
The project is being designed by the Sarasota engineering firm Kimley-Horn.
Schneier said the project had to be redesigned about a year and a half ago after DOT engineers determined the roadway near the intersection was too steeply graded for a roundabout. The bridge approach includes a super-elevated section, a banking of the roadway used to help vehicles navigate the curve, which engineers said would need to be flattened before a roundabout could be safely constructed.
The DOT later agreed to fund the majority of the project’s construction costs. Flattening the roadway required engineers to reevaluate drainage patterns, expanding the project’s scope and footprint.
As of a Feb. 26 project meeting between the town, DOT and firm Kimley-Horn, final design work was nearing completion while permitting continues. Transportation planners are targeting a construction bid letting in September, with a notice to proceed anticipated in January 2027.
The project is expected to take about 450 days to build.