Bridge to Longboat …

From “From Calusas to Condominiums, a pictorial history of Longboat Key,” by Ralph Hunter, published in 2000:

Longboat Key commissioners and residents as early as the late 1960s felt there should be a fixed toll bridge across the bay, linking Longboat Key to the mainland. 

In 1969, the commissioners authorized the Longboat Key Bridge Committee, which prepared a documented study saying that such a bridge was “urgently needed and feasible.” 

At the time, the population of Longboat Key was close to 3,500 residents, many of them seasonal. The study languished at the county level.

In 1973, another study was authorized and representatives were named from the Florida Department of Transportation, Sarasota and Manatee counties, Longboat Key and the cities of Bradenton and Sarasota. After over a year, the final report was issued, naming 14 possible locations for the bridge. The recommendation was for a fixed bridge to be built near the center of Longboat Key to a place on the mainland.

The plan ran into objections from Longboat commissioners, economists and environmentalists, who thanked everyone for their work and ignored the study.

In 1978, the Metropolitan Planning Organization recommended a mainland bridge to Longboat Key and a fixed bridge replacement for the New Pass Bridge in its long-range planning.

After lengthy and acrimonious debate in Longboat Key, Lido Shores and the city of Sarasota, two hold-out Longboat Key commissioners, Sam Seegel and Sid Ochs, agreed to a bascule bridge, provided the cross-Bay bridge was put on a fast track.

The bascule bridge was built, but the mainland bridge idea died.

In 1980, the Sarasota-Manatee Area Transportation Study, which replaced the Metropolitan Planning Organization, did a financial analysis of the cross-Bay bridge question and declared that tolls would not be enough to pay for the bridge.

In March 1981, a town referendum was held on Longboat Key to vote on whether the residents were in favor of a fixed, cross-Bay bridge. Surprisingly, the vote was yes: 1,505, and no: 440. The favored location was mid-Key.

In 1985, Commissioner Sid Ochs suggested the alternate location for a cross-Bay bridge from Bradenton Beach on the south end of Anna Maria Island to an extension of 53rd Street in Manatee, the direct route to Interstate 75.

Opponents claim a cross-Bay bridge would cost too much, would be ecologically destructive and would necessitate making Gulf of Mexico Drive a four-lane highway.

Proponents claim the savings in human life in case of a hurricane makes the idea mandatory, that the bridge would let people off the Key was well as let them on. They claim that it would actually reduce traffic on the Key, since many would go directly to the mainland for shopping and the airport, rather than drive over the draw bridges at either end of the Key.

Every few years, the idea comes up again. The need for a bridge is apparent to all, but the objectors have won out over the years.

Perhaps someday a bridge to the mainland will be a reality, but the odds are against it any time soon.