Mobility improvements coming to the barrier islands

The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization will embark on a new implementation plan to advance some traffic improvements along the region’s barrier islands. 

Vice Mayor Mike Haycock, who represents Longboat Key on the MPO’s board, told his fellow commissioners at their Dec. 2 meeting the MPO plans to have a list of priority projects ready by the end of next summer. 

“It’ll be something we’ll want to be very, very actively involved in,” Haycock said. 

The Barrier Island Implementation Plan will be a continuation of the Barrier Island Traffic Study (BITS) which was completed in 2020. The study cost around $675,000 and includes more than a hundred different suggestions to improve the barrier island corridor from Anna Maria Island to the southern Sarasota County line. 

“Not much happened after this five-year study,” Haycock told commissioners.

One successful project that came from the study was the Gulf Islands Water Ferry, which transports tourists from Downtown Bradenton to Anna Maria and Coquina Beach. The goal of this project, like many others in the BITS, was to reduce traffic congestion. 

Another suggestion from the BITS was to create a uniform method of public transportation on Longboat Key, which happened with the expansion of Sarasota County’s Breeze program. 

But since 2020, few projects from the BITS have come to fruition. 

Haycock said he went to representatives of the MPO about six months ago, along with Town Manager Howard Tipton and Assistant Town Manager — then Public Works Director — Isaac Brownman. 

The group asked the MPO to take another look at the BITS, to which the MPO agreed to sponsor a revised implementation plan. 

“It won’t be long before we can look at some real-life strategies that might help,” Haycock said.

This time, the goal is to create a shorter, more precise study that includes more accomplishable goals that could become a part of the MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan. 

The study will use traffic data, mostly derived from data collected through smartphone map applications, to provide insight into where traffic solutions are necessary. 

The MPO can also use the same data from previous years to compare how the traffic grew over the years. 

“There isn’t one solution to all of the traffic. There are a thousand small solutions that kind of need to happen,” Tipton said.

Having an organization like the MPO for this region is helpful because it gives all the municipalities in Sarasota and Manatee Counties the opportunity to have a say in infrastructure planning. 

“What the MPO does is it brings everybody to the table. We’ll be at the table with Bradenton Beach and Manatee County and everybody else,” Tipton said. “It just gives us a chance to really look at the recommendations that were made.”

A plan like the Barrier Island Implementation Plan will give the municipalities a chance to voice priorities and convey these projects to funding agencies like the Florida Department of Transportation. 

North-end traffic headaches  

One of the problem areas the implementation plan will probably address is the north end of Longboat Key. 

“We know that this section of road is one of the worst segments of traffic in the region,” Tipton said. 

The problematic section spans from the Longboat Pass Bridge north to the intersection of Gulf Drive and Cortez Road. 

On a busy day in season, residents and tourists are stuck in lines of cars that span from this intersection to sometimes mid-key. 

A solution to the Gulf Drive/Cortez Road congestion could be a longer right-turn lane, which would allow those leaving the islands to pass the intersection more frequently. But this would require the state to acquire property. 

After hurricanes Helene and Milton, many of the properties next to the existing right turn lane were destroyed. Commissioners discussed at the Dec. 2 meeting this could provide an opportunity for the town to acquire the property. 

“The timing could be great to really move on that recommendation,” Tipton said.

Longboat Key resident Maureen Merrigan is the co-chair of Longboat Key North, a coalition of homeowners and condominium associations on the north end of the island. 

The group discussed the new implementation plan at their recent meeting.  

"We're thrilled that the MPO and FDOT are looking at the congestion that we all experience during the season," Merrigan said. 

Aside from the Cortez Bridge intersection, Merrigan said other north-end residents expressed concern over the Coquina Beach parking lot on the other side of the Longboat Pass Bridge. 

The frustration for residents comes when the flow of people leaving the beach mixes with the line of cars trying to go north, exponentially increasing the line of traffic. 

Merrigan said she and other north-end residents hope the MPO include a closer look at this issue in the upcoming plan. 

According to a presentation by the MPO, a published dashboard of the plan was expected around November or December. The MPO will conduct stakeholder outreach in March and April 2025, and they will present a draft and final report in August 2025. 

The MPO’s meetings are open to the public. For more information on the MPO or to access the meeting schedule, visit MyMPO.org.