Roadside work underway on Gulf of Mexico Drive

The Florida Department of Transportation has hired a contractor to begin maintenance work along the Gulf of Mexico Drive right-of-way in a project meant to make the edge of the highway safer.

Work to address pavement drop-offs on the highway shoulders started last week and is scheduled to be completed this week. The work is aimed at smoothing the transition from pavement to grassy shoulder.

Longboat Key Public Works director Isaac Brownman said the work by Rogar — FDOT’s contractor — is not expected to require the closure of any lanes of traffic. The project contract is valued at $180,000, according to FDOT contract maintenance coordinator Lori Weakley. 

“If they have to get out for any reason into the roadway (possibly with sod deliveries, etc.) the closure will be for short periods of time and handled with a stop and go paddle,” Brownman wrote in an email to Town Manager Tom Harmer and staff.

Harmer said Rogar will have employees on-site to handle the maintenance of traffic.

Specifically, the work will take place throughout the length of the island.

"The contractor will be reworking these areas to not only eliminate the dangerous drop offs, but they will also be correcting the slope between the outside edge of the roadway to the front of the sidewalk to create a smooth transition,” Brownman wrote.

Brownman said crews will not disturb manicured lawns.

Later this month, FDOT is also set to begin its 14-part, $2.77 million project on the New Pass Bridge on the south end of the island. Lane closures on New Pass Bridge are expected between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. once those road improvements begin.

On the north end of the island, TECO Peoples Gas is installing a 6-inch gas line along Gulf of Mexico Drive from North Shore Road to Bayview Drive.

Peoples Gas spokesperson Sylvia Vega said the pipeline will add capacity and reliability to the existing distribution system serving Longboat Key.

"Because of its underground infrastructure, natural gas is significantly more resilient than other energy sources. This project is adding another layer of reliability to the system,” Vega wrote in an email.

 “For example, if damage to the natural gas system occurs because a homeowner or excavator hits it during a digging project, fewer – if any – customers would lose service during the repair process because of the redundancy and capacity provided by this new pipeline.”

The town's ongoing underground-utilities work, which is unrelated to the  TECO upgrade, struck gas lines a handful of times in the project's early weeks. 

TECO’s work is expected to take two to three months.