Leadership from Longboat Key and Bradenton Beach continued to push back against the Florida Department of Transportation’s favored option for Longboat Pass: A fixed, high bridge.
Objections to a fixed bridge with a 78-foot clearance to replace the existing bascule bridge were raised again March 30, during a meeting of the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization board in Sarasota.
This time, the DOT’s secretary for District 1, Jamie Driggers, was at the table and he said the department was still taking feedback and listening to concerns as it continues its project development and environment study of options.
The DOT began the PD&E study in early 2020 and in March held public hearings to present its preferred alternative — a high-level, fixed bridge with a 78-foot clearance and an estimated $159.39 million total cost — over new bascule bridges.
At the MPO meeting, board member and Longboat Key Commissioner Steve Branham restated the town’s opposition to a high, fixed bridge.
“The preferred option is a bascule bridge, lower than the full-height bridge, which I think your folks are proposing as the preferred alternative,” he said of the town’s position.
He noted LBK’s new mayor, Debra Williams, drafted a letter to the DOT stating a preference for a lower-level bascule bridge that suits the north end community.
He also asked if the MPO was not as involved on bridge projects as in the past, specifically, he noted, the MPO was very involved in the Ringling Bridge project in Sarasota.
“I’m a little confused by the amount of participation that the MPO was engaged in on this,” Branham said, referring to the Longboat Pass Bridge project. “We want to make sure that all the options are considered and weighed upon and debated so that we get the right solution.”
Branham said Bradenton Beach and Manatee County officials also likely had concerns, which segued to comments from Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie, also an MPO board member.
“We have some concerns about the functional aspects on the Bradenton Beach side,” Chappie said in reference to a high bridge.
He said the high bridge would change traffic patterns at Coquina Beach and Coquina Bayside, which could increase vehicle backups rather than ease congestion.
At the DOT’s hearing on the bridge project in March, staff announced that the public comment period would close March 23.
However, answering concerns at the MPO meeting, Driggers said, “We’re definitely here to listen to those concerns.”
The timeline on the project website, swflroads.com/project/436676-1, shows that the next stage in the process is approval of the PD&E study late this year.
In other business at the meeting, the board heard a report that a new boat for Manatee County’s Gulf Islands Ferry service between downtown Bradenton and Bradenton Beach would soon undergo a U.S. Coast Guard inspection.
The MPO’s next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Monday, May 18, at the DoubleTree by Hilton, 8009 15th St. E., Sarasota.