DOT updates future transportation, bridge plans

By robert Anderson islander reporter

The bridges of Manatee County, coming to a beach nearby.

Nicole Mills, interim director of transportation development for the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 1, talked April 12 about the bridges of Manatee County during a luncheon program in Bradenton.

Mills was the “headliner” at a Manatee Chamber of Commerce program at the IMG Academy Golf Club, 4350 El Conquistador Parkway, Bradenton.

About 80 people attended the event that featured a lunch and remarks about the DOT’s plans for Interstate-75 interchanges, urban core improvements to relieve downtown traffic congestion and new bridges.

The DOT plans to replace two bridges linking Anna Maria Island and the mainland and is studying options for the Longboat Pass Bridge. All three were built by the DOT in 1957.

Mills addressed plans for all three bridges.

The Cortez Bridge is scheduled for construction in late 2025 or early 2026 at a cost estimated at $110 million.

The replacement has been controversial in the village of Cortez, where some would rather see another drawbridge built instead of a high, fixed-span bridge.

“We want the people to be happy. We want to build a bridge that will make people proud,” Mills told The Islander while at the IMG club. “This is a lot of money, a lot of time and effort. That’s why we did an aesthetics committee. So we could get input from multiple groups.”

The DOT’s Nicole Mills speaks April 12 to Manatee Chamber of Commerce members during a chamber luncheon at iMG Academy Golf Club, 4350 El Conquistador Parkway, Bradenton.

Mills said the reasoning behind the DOT’s need for longer on and off ramps on the Cortez and Bradenton Beach ends of the proposed bridge is to comply with the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act.

The act prohibits discrimination based on disability in employment, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications as well as state and local government services.

“If we go steeper than 5% on the sidewalk, then it makes the sidewalk design more difficult from an ADA perspective,” Mills said.

The Anna Maria Island Bridge is targeted for construction in 2029, according to Mills, who said funding is not in place for the new State Road 64/Manatee

Avenue bridge.

Construction is estimated at $138 million.

The project involves replacing the existing bascule bridge with a high-level fixed bridge, much like the planned Cortez Bridge.

The new bridge will be built about 14 feet to the south of the existing bridge and provide 65 feet of vertical navigational clearance.

The DOT anticipates the maximum height of the surface of the roadway will be approximately 74 feet and the bridge will consist of two 12-foot travel lanes in each direction with 11-foot shoulders for emergency vehicles to pass and 10-foot sidewalks on each side of the bridge.

The new Manatee Avenue bridge will be approximately 3,150 feet long, as compared to the existing bridge, which is 3,123 feet long.

“That bridge design is pretty far along, as we’ve looked at it three different times over 30 years,” Mills said.

A new Longboat Pass Bridge design would be the latest entry into the DOT’s projects, with estimated construction in fiscal year 2032, Mills said.

However, the DOT is still conducting a project development and environment study for the bridge, which links AMI to Longboat Key.

Mills said the DOT is expected to complete the PD&E in 2026.

She also said the DOT most likely will not seek a high bridge replacement because there’s not enough water between the two land masses to construct a highclearance bridge.