Island mayors are looking down the road.
The Island Transportation Planning Organization — a chartered board for Anna Maria Island representatives under the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization — met May 10 at Holmes Beach City Hall.
The board — comprising the mayors of Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach — heard a presentation on the Cortez megabridge design project and discussed changes to the ITPO’s representation on the technical advisory committee, which assists the MPO by reviewing transportation plans and programs.
Megabridge decor to be finalized in June
The Florida Department of Transportation plans to replace the Cortez Bridge — a 17-foot-clearance drawbridge that spans the Intracoastal Waterway between Cortez on the mainland and Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island — with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge. Construction is slated for 2026-27.
DOT design project manager Roxann Lake and consultant project manager Doug Hershey updated the ITPO on choices made by the Cortez Bridge Aesthetics Committee, an 11-member group of local resident-volunteers that has been selecting ornamental features for the megabridge since August 2020.
To date, the choices include pier styles, the inclusion of bridge overlooks and the shape of pedestrian railings.
Lake informed the ITPO that the last aesthetics committee meeting would be in June to finalize bridge colors and textures.
She encouraged board members to review summaries of previous design meetings on the project website, cortezbridge.com, and provide feedback.
Following the bridge presentation, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, in her first rotation as ITPO chair, led a discussion about representation on the TAC.
Quality TAC representation is important, she said, because committee members are tasked with advocating for their communities, ensuring transportation projects come to fruition and applying for grants.
Titsworth, who took over as chair from Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie in February, said she had reviewed the board’s interlocal agreements and uncovered a problem: Lynn Burnett, who has represented the ITPO on the TAC for more than a decade, may no longer be the best representative for all three island cities.
Burnett previously served the three cities as an engineer but resigned from her position in Anna Maria in January 2019. With no official ties to Anna Maria, Titsworth noted that Burnett represents the city on the TAC for free.
“We don’t want her to work for free, because obviously, you want somebody to want to work for you,” Titsworth said.
She proposed the ITPO explore two options — add one or more members to the TAC or replace Burnett with a representative for all three cities.
“Great representation, that’s our goal,” Titsworth said. “And if two members give us more because it’s two votes, I’d go for two.”
Adding another seat to the TAC would require approval from the MPO board.
Titsworth asked Chappie and Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy to consider engineer Sage Kamiya, who has been working on traffic projects for Holmes Beach, as a candidate for either an additional seat or a replacement on the committee.
As chair, Titsworth will represent the ITPO at the next MPO board meeting, which will be at 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 24, at the Holiday Inn Sarasota-Airport.
Neither the ITPO nor TAC will meet again until September, and Titsworth said a decision on changes to TAC representation would not be made before then.