- May 6, 2026
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Barrier islands are, by their very nature, separated from the neighborhoods, business districts and communities of the mainland. To get to the paradises of Longboat Key, Lido Key, Anna Maria Island, Siesta Key and the like, you’ll need to get on a boat or cross a bridge.
More than 100 years after John Ringling led a circus parade across the then newly built, timber-supported Ringling Causeway, a concrete fixed-span bridge that graces most Sarasota postcards now supports residents and visitors who are headed to or from the barrier islands.
The 65-foot-tall illuminated concrete bridge represents the modern preference for bridge design. It replaced a drawbridge built in the '50s, one of many drawbridges built in the region during that era. Today, those decades-old bascule bridges are becoming more expensive to maintain and repair. Some, like the Cortez Bridge, are set to be replaced. And, just like the decision made in the early 2000s for the Ringling bascule bridge’s replacement, a high-level fixed bridge is the chosen design.
Drawbridges, though, are not a relic of the past. In the region, they’ve continuously been the design choice of civil engineers and have continued to be built by the state in the modern area. The same year the Ringling Causeway fixed span bridge was built over Sarasota Bay, a bascule drawbridge was also built in Venice. In 2004, the Circus Bridge in Venice was also constructed.
FDOT writes that the designed service life of a bridge does not denote its expiration date.
“The design service life of a bridge reflects the maintenance tools, materials, and construction practices available at the time of its construction. Reaching the end of this original design life does not necessarily indicate that the bridge is no longer functional,” FDOT District One Public Information Director Janella Newsome said in an email. “With ongoing inspections and improvements in materials and maintenance techniques, a bridge may remain structurally sound and continue to operate safely beyond its initial design service life.”
Below are a list of the bridges connecting the mainland to the barrier islands in the area.
The Cortez Bridge, a drawbridge, will be dismantled slowly starting this summer as a new, $135 million bridge is built just north of the existing bridge that will remain in operation during construction. The new Cortez Bridge will be a fixed-span design with a 65-foot clearance and will take 1,200 days for construction, according to FDOT.
The Anna Maria Island Bridge is a bascule bridge with a 24-foot air clearance while closed and connects Bradenton to Holmes Beach. Like its parallel bridge just to the south, the Anna Maria Island Bridge is also soon to be replaced. A 65-foot clearance fixed span bridge will be built about 14 feet to the south of the current bridge. It will have two travel lanes, 11-foot shoulders and 10-foot sidewalks on each side. Construction bids will be accepted starting in July 2028.
Connecting Bradenton Beach to the north end of Longboat Key, the Longboat Pass bascule bridge was a big deal for north-end residents of Longboat Key when it was constructed in 1957. The single-leaf bascule bridge connected the north end of Longboat Key for the first time in decades, replacing a wooden structure built by Manatee County in 1923 that was destroyed in 1932 when a severe storm rocked the area. Talk has now shifted to what will replace the drawbridge as the structure reaches its 70th birthday.
The body of water between City Island and Longboat Key was not always there. The local legend is that an 1848 hurricane formed the pass and William Whitaker, the first permanent white settler in the area, noticed the new feature. Whitaker’s creative juices must have been lacking that day as he proposed the name “new pass,” a name which has stuck more than a century and a half later.
The Ringling Causeway bridge has become an attraction itself. The four-lane bridge is more than 106 feet wide, giving plenty of room for bikers, runners and pedestrians to use the bridge, and use it they do. The bridge has become such a popular venue for exercising that it has been picked as the centerpiece of the city of Sarasota’s Parks and Recreation Department logo.
The best way onto Siesta Key for Sarasota residents north of Proctor Road is Siesta Drive, which includes the Siesta Key North drawbridge. The drawbridge is currently undergoing a $4.3 million rehabilitation project that includes concrete maintenance, mechanical and electrical rehab, structural steel repairs and protective steel coating replacement.
The southernmost access to Siesta Key is via Stickney Point Road and Stickney Point bridge, which traverses a narrow channel of Little Sarasota Bay about 400 feet wide. Stickney Point could undergo a transformation in the coming years after the county OK'd an $18.1 million purchase of 21 parcels at Stickney Point in February, though approval of a loan to finance the purchase has been delayed as commissioners have requested more information from staff about plans for the area.
The Blackburn Point Swing Bridge is more than 100 years old and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The steel bridge was constructed by Champion Bridge Company of Wilmington, Ohio. Design of the bridge cost $22,890 in 1925. The 142-foot bridge with a single vehicular travel lane gives access to Casey Key, a barrier island just south of Osprey.
Connecting the mainland to Sarasota County’s Nokomis Public Beach and North Jetty Park is the Albee Road double-leaf bascule drawbridge. The Albee Road bridge is open on demand for boat traffic rather than operating on a set schedule like many other area bridges. It replaced a swing bridge that had a 20-cent toll to cross.
The Venice Avenue bascule drawbridge provides direct access to downtown Venice for thousands of Venetians living on the mainland. Built in 1966, the bridge was promptly dedicated in honor of Col. George Kumpe in 1967 by the Florida Legislature. Kumpe was executive director of the West Coast Inland Navigation District.
Downtown Venice is accessed by two main bridges crossing the Intracoastal about 1,500 feet away from each other. The north-southbound bridge that connects Tamiami Trail to downtown Venice is named after the Kentucky Military Institute, which had its winter headquarters in Venice from 1933 to 1970.
The Circus Bridge is technically two bridges as far as FDOT is concerned — one northbound and one southbound. Connected to the northbound bridge is a small two-story structure where the bridgetender sits looking over the Intracoastal waterway. The bridge was renamed from the South Bridge to the Circus Bridge shortly after its opening to commemorate the area’s history as a winter home to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which moved its winter home from Sarasota to Venice in 1960.
