Roundabout planned for southern gateway to Longboat Key

Progress on the Broadway roundabout on the north end of Longboat Key is well underway, but there’s a second roundabout planned on Longboat Key’s main street.

The Longboat Club Road roundabout is being considered as an intersection improvement on the southern end of the Key. Longboat Key Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman said the roundabout could slow speeding drivers and increase pedestrian safety.

“Roundabouts are safer and can be a more efficient traffic solution to signalized intersections under the right conditions,” Brownman said. “By nature, properly engineered roundabouts during most times of day throughout the year can slow down speeding traffic while also providing more efficient vehicular turning movements, better pedestrian and bicycle safety, and have far less vehicular conflict points.”

Photo by S.T. Cardinal

Don’t expect it to solve the biggest issue on the island as Longboat Key citizens see it — seasonal traffic congestion.

“In terms of solving peak season traffic congestion, it will not do that as nothing on island will do that. Nearly all peak season traffic congestion begins with off-island choke points that have limited capacity during high-volume peak periods,” Brownman said. “However, where a traffic signal cannot adjust efficiently in real time when traffic is clearer downstream, the roundabout can afford better flow as the traffic can self-manage and continue regular flow.”

It’s also not coming any time soon. The roundabout is not listed on FDOT’s five-year work program, meaning there is no funding earmarked for the project. Engineering plans have not begun and a project development and environment study is not underway. Brownman described the project as a “conceptual, future project with an undefined timeframe and funding source.”

Although it is a project for the distant future, it has begun to pop up in planning documents. The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization included the Longboat Club Road roundabout project in its 2026 List of Project Priorities as a cost feasible intersection improvement.

“Projects included in the Cost Feasible Plan are eligible for funding consideration through the MPO’s project prioritization process,” the MPO’s 2026 list explains.

State Road 789 is a state road, and the Florida Department of Transportation would run any intersection improvements.

The intersecting road, Longboat Club Road, is owned by the Longboat Key Club. Managing Director Rick Konsavage isn’t worried about rushing the project.

“I don’t think that's a big priority because it’s going to take years of studies, it has no funding and there’s more immediate issues to look into, like the bridges,” he said. “More than anything what stops traffic is the drawbridge.”