FDOT inspectors checking Manatee and Sarasota coastal bridges after Hurricane Idalia

Almost immediately after Hurricane Idalia blew north past the Bradenton area toward Florida’s Big Bend, Florida Department of Transportation inspectors were on the scene, checking local bridges.

“FDOT inspectors were deployed into the field at daylight, which is standard procedure after a significant weather event. Inspectors followed the storm as it made its way up the state, with the initial focus on the coastal bridges impacted by storm surge, which included coastal bridges in Sarasota and Manatee,” Patricia Pichette, an FDOT communications specialist, said in an email.

“So far, no significant damage has been identified,” she said.

In a press release late Thursday afternoon, FDOT said that all state-owned bridges have been inspected and cleared for travel.

Bridges can be susceptible to storm damage, as shown in September 2022 when Hurricane Ian damaged the Sanibel Causeway in Lee County, leaving island residents stranded.

Storm surge, which washed out sandbars under Sanibel Causeway pylons, helped bring down portions of the bridge.

The Anna Maria Island drawbridge on Manatee Avenue was built in 1957 and the Cortez drawbridge was built in 1956. Both of the aging bridges are scheduled for replacement.

While there are questions about when construction might start on the new bridges, there are short-term projects underway for the Anna Maria Island drawbridge.

Within the next few weeks, the bridge will have daily lane closures, as well as periods of one-way traffic, as workers repair and relocate a water main. On Friday, Manatee County Government announced that repairs set to begin Wednesday had been postponed to later this month.

The water main, which provides potable water to Anna Maria Island, collapsed from hangers under the bridge and fell into Anna Maria Sound on June 20.

In addition to the water main repairs, FDOT plans this year to repair and rehabilitate the bridge.

That work includes coating steel members, restoring corroded steel members, repairing, adjusting and testing the mechanical system that raises and lowers the bridge’s bascule segments, performing crack injections, cleaning corrosion and painting the structure.

Overnight single-lane closures are planned from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

That work, at a cost of $1.1 million, is projected to be completed in winter 2023.

Beyond the immediate repairs, FDOT plans to eventually replace the Anna Maria Island drawbridge with a new high-level bridge.

The planned fixed-span bridge would provide 65 feet of vertical clearance, allowing most vessels to pass under the structure without disrupting traffic on the bridge, the FDOT project page says.

“FDOT anticipates the maximum height of the surface of the roadway will be approximately 74 feet. The bridge will consist of two 12-foot travel lanes (one eastbound and one westbound), 11-foot shoulders in each direction for emergency vehicles to pass, and 10-foot sidewalks on each side of the bridge,” according to the FDOT web page.

Bicyclists would be able to use the shoulders as well as the planned sidewalks. The new bridge would be approximately 3,150 feet long. An exact length has not yet been determined at this stage in the design phase. For comparison, the existing bridge is 3,123 feet long, according to the FDOT webpage.

The project to replace the Anna Maria Island drawbridge has not yet been funded and the project fact sheet does not include a start date.

“The design phase is on hold until funding for construction is available. Then the final utility aspects of the design will be completed,” Pichette said in an email.

Cortez Bridge replacement

In 2019, FDOT announced that it planned to replace the Cortez drawbridge with a 65-foot-high fixed bridge.

FDOT cited a 204-page engineering report that concluded that the bridge needed to be replaced because of structural and functional deficiencies.

Bridge inspection reports conducted between 2008 and 2012 show that the Cortez bridge is functionally obsolete because of lack of shoulders, nine-inch concrete curbs separating the travel lanes from the sidewalk and old-style bridge railings, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.

The FDOT project website lists a cost of $6.7 million for the high-rise replacement, but actual costs are expected to be higher.

The replacement bridge would be constructed north of the existing bridge.

The design phase of the Cortez bridge began in October 2019 and is anticipated to be completed in spring 2025. Right-of-way is funded in fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024. Construction is funded in fiscal year 2025, the FDOT webpage says.

As with the Anna Maria Island drawbridge project, it is unclear when construction might start.

Longboat Pass drawbridge

The Longboat Pass drawbridge, which connects Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key, is also getting attention from FDOT.

FDOT has a project development and environment study underway to evaluate alternatives to replacing the existing bridge.

Alternatives include rehabilitation of the existing bridge, a new high-level fixed bridge and a moveable bridge.

The Longboat Key Bridge was reconstructed in 2005 and in 2020 and is considered functionally obsolete.

The proposed bridge would be wider than the existing bridge in order to provide safer accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians, but additional vehicle lanes are not being proposed.

No construction schedule has been proposed for a replacement bridge.