- May 17, 2024
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Although construction won’t be visible for several years, the Florida Department of Transportation has some big plans for Longboat Key going into a new five-year work plan.
The tentative plan won’t be officially adopted until July 2024, and spans from fiscal year 2024-25 to fiscal year 2028-29. In the draft, FDOT is planning a few major projects aimed at Longboat Key that total over $20 million.
The three major projects for Longboat Key outlined in the potential work plan are: the Broadway Roundabout, repaving Gulf of Mexico Drive and new plans for the Longboat Pass Bridge.
A potential roundabout at the intersection of Broadway Street and GMD has long been in discussion, and both FDOT and the town remain committed to figuring out a solution.
Right now what’s most important is a redesign. Without it, the project can’t move forward.
Nonetheless, FDOT included $1,685,000 in the five-year work plan to go toward construction of the roundabout.
According to Longboat Key Public Works Director Isaac Brownman, this matches a verbal commitment made by FDOT.
It’s on the town’s dime, though, to fund the redesign that is estimated to cost $158,000. The town was initially “optimistic” that FDOT would help pay for the redesign, but some financial shortfalls on FDOT's part left the financial responsibility on the town, according to Brownman.
Brownman said the town is working on some budget transfers and will make the redesign work in the fiscal year 2024 budget. Most of the money being used is money that was rolled over from previous fiscal years.
Back in June, Brownman told town commissioners that FDOT required engineers to take a second look at designs for the roundabout.
When the previous design phase began, FDOT didn’t raise concern over the existing banking of the roadway.
The design was nearly 100% complete when FDOT said the banking would in fact be an issue and the department would not approve it.
New plans for the roundabout need to reduce the existing banking down to a “normal crown.” All roads are sloped in some way for drainage purposes, Brownman said, but the area of GMD that intersects with Broadway is more extreme than “normal.”
“We’re very confident that the FDOT is going to be much happier and more satisfied with this design,” Brownman said.
So far, the only suggestion made by FDOT is to add another strip of sidewalk on the west side of the roundabout. Brownman said as the process moves along, the town will do its best to fulfill the department’s requests.
The project that’s furthest away is the replacement of the Longboat Pass Bridge, located on the north end of the island. The bridge was first constructed over 50 years ago, in 1957.
Discussions about the long-term viability of the bridge have been going on for a couple years, but FDOT’s new tentative five-year work plan includes $4.1 million for preliminary engineering in fiscal year 2026.
“It’s not that the bridge is structurally deficient or is failing or is going to fall down,” Brownman said. “It’s what they call functionally obsolete.”
According to FDOT’s website, functionally obsolete means the bridge is outdated. This could be due to a variety of factors including: narrow shoulders, narrow lanes or old traffic barriers.
Brownman said the department looks at a lot of factors to determine if a bridge is functionally obsolete, including the shoulder width and how pedestrians get across.
“It’s very tight,” Brownman said. “That bridge, Longboat Pass, is very hard for pedestrians and bikers to get across.”
On top of that, FDOT takes into account the potential ongoing maintenance of the bridge as it gets older. By comparing how much maintenance will cost over the next couple decades to the cost of replacing and upgrading the bridge, the department can further make a decision.
“Somewhere along the way, they made a decision that it makes sense to them to go ahead and replace it,” Brownman said.
Resurfacing roads is a routine project for FDOT, and the Longboat Key section of GMD is up soon.
The resurfacing projects are split up by county. A couple key changes were made to each of the projects from last year’s adopted work plan.
With the possible new work plan, FDOT moved each project back by one year.
Manatee County’s resurfacing will now take place in 2026, and Sarasota County will follow in 2027.
The cost of each project changed from what was originally expected as well. The Manatee County portion will cost $3,715,072, which is down from $6,188,829. Sarasota County’s section will now cost $8,755,543, which is up from $6,372,988.
According to an email Brownman sent to town commissioners, he is still working on getting a “thorough explanation” behind why the changes were proposed and the differences in cost.
