FDOT to begin Stickney Point bridge repairs Monday

The Florida Department of Transportation held a public meeting Tuesday to inform Siesta Key residents about the upcoming repairs to the Stickney Point Bridge, which will cause some nightly lane closures.

The $5.3 million project is projected to finish in early 2016, but Lauren Hatchell, the public information officer for the project, said that was a conservative estimate, and that it would be more likely to end in late 2015.

FDOT will repair the seawalls and bridge grating, as well as upgrade the control house. The bridge will also be repainted with a special galvanizing paint that will protect the underlying metal from saltwater deterioration and extend the life of the bridge for another 20 to 30 years, said Jim Jacobsen, the District 1 structures management engineer.

Repair construction will begin April 13, however, the first item will be the seawall, which will not cause road closures. The bridge repairs will start in May, at which time one side of the bridge will be closed at night between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Marsha Mohan, a Siesta Key resident and a Realtor with Florida Sun Realty, remembers the repairs that shut down part of the North Bridge at night in 2012. She isn’t worried about the Stickney Point bridge repairs causing too much disruption.

“The North Bridge wasn’t problematic because it was at night,” she said.