Cortez Bridge

This will be interesting: The Florida Department of Transportation’s open house and presentation Thursday on what to do with the Cortez Bridge.

Replace it with another drawbridge? Or construct a fixed-span bridge?

Unless the solar eclipse rearranged the emotional wiring of longtime Anna Maria Islanders and Cortez Village residents, you already know how this conversation is going to go:

No fixed-span bridge!

We’ve seen this movie three times. In 1989, the islanders and Cortez Village residents fought (and won) FDOT’s attempts to shift to the fixed span. And surely, many Longboaters remember Sarasota’s Bridge Wars in the early 2000s — a 10-year conflict that resulted in what is now an iconic signature for Sarasota that even some of the anti-fixed spanners appreciate. 

In 2008, FDOT broached constructing a fixed span for the Manatee Avenue bridge. The usual staunch protectors of nostalgia lobbied against it. But in FDOT’s survey and public-hearing results, opponents to a fixed span were in the minority — 25% wanted a draw bridge. A new, high fixed-span bridge is just now reaching the design phase.

Given the dire traffic congestion that occurs at the west end of the Cortez Bridge, logic dictates avoiding anything that creates more backups, e.g. a drawbridge. But Thursday’s hearing will raise the expected objections: The grade of a fixed span will be too high and aesthetically obtrusive for such a short distance. To which, we would say: Look at the Ringling Bridge’s grade. It’s high, but it has become a huge attraction for walkers, joggers and bikers, not to mention a joy to take in the view when you reach its crest in your vehicle. 

Plus, a fixed span will be far more economical for taxpayers in the long run. It makes the most sense.

Unfortunately, a new Cortez Bridge won’t solve the bottlenecks at the intersection of Gulf Drive and Cortez Road. That’s a larger topic. 

But perhaps it’s an opportune time to raise it. After all, it takes a decade to build a bridge. 

Why not discuss the idea of a second bridge that would connect, say, the Coquina Beach boat ramp to 115th Street West? That would create a throughway that would avoid Gulf Drive and Cortez Road, allowing traffic to flow uninterrupted to and from West Bradenton to Longboat Key.