Fixed-span bridge is the right choice for Longboat for many reasons

Dear Editor,

FDOT’s preference for a 78-foot high-level fixed-span bridge to replace the 1957 Longboat Pass drawbridge is the right choice for Florida taxpayers.

Florida practices prudent budget management with a statewide FY 2025-26 budget of roughly $115 billion — less than New York City’s $116–120 billion budget for a single city of 8 million. Yet Longboat Key’s leaders are asking every Florida taxpayer to spend an extra $40–56 million on construction alone, so the island can keep its “modest drawbridge” aesthetic.

The Town Commission’s letter to FDOT pleads for a drawbridge to preserve the community’s low-rise, residential character. That is a local preference for appearance, not a statewide necessity or a cost-effective approach to managing surface traffic and marine navigation. The quoted costs ($176 million – $194 million for drawbridge options vs. $138 million for fixed) are capital construction figures only. They do not include the costs of lifelong staffing for 24/7 bridge tenders and extra mechanical maintenance in the $233 million+ in projected 75-year operating and maintenance costs that FDOT’s own Preliminary Engineering Report flags for movable bridges (versus just $17 million for fixed). 

Is a clean, high-clearance fixed span really less attractive than a lower bridge cluttered with massive counterweights, machinery and a prominent tender house in the middle? Reasonable people can differ on aesthetics, but not on math.

If Longboat Key insists on its preferred vision, let the town — or its property owners — make up the difference. Florida’s taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize one community’s architectural nostalgia when a safer, cheaper, lower-maintenance and fully navigable alternative exists.

FDOT is doing exactly what responsible government should do: deliver modern infrastructure at the lowest long-term cost to all citizens.

— Michael D. Taylor, Longboat Key