City moves forward on Main Street complete street design

The reimagining of Main Street from Gulfstream Avenue to School Avenue is now officially underway. On Monday, the Sarasota City Commission approved a contract in the amount of $2.27 million with consultant Kimley-Horn to study and provide preliminary design for the complete street project.

The deadline for 60% final design is September 2025.

As a complete street, the project emphasis is on multimodal transportation, accommodating pedestrian and bicycle as well as vehicle traffic. It won’t come without some measure of controversy, however, for downtown businesses have expressed concerns over how it might impact parking in the vicinity of their storefronts.

Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch wondered if the timing premature as the Downtown Master Plan update process is set to begin by the end of the year. 

“I don’t see this actually happening until probably four or five years from now, and it would probably be done in phases because that’s a huge project,” said City Manager Marlon Brown. “We will do this in concert with the Downtown Master Plan.”

As part of its scope of work, Kimley-Horn will facilitate meetings with stakeholder groups that include land owners, tenants and merchants, and the existing stakeholder group from the prior visioning session. It will also facilitate two public progress meetings at the 30% schematic design and 60% draft design sessions. Any feedback may be incorporated into the 60% final draft design.