Longboat likely to encumber $1.7M in costs for Broadway Roundabout

The town of Longboat Key and the Florida Department of Transportation teamed up to enter an accelerated schedule for the Broadway Roundabout, but the agreement came with unexpected costs for the town. 

According to staff’s presentation at the commission’s April 7 meeting, the new potential costs to the town are near $1.7 million, including utility adjustments, landscaping and aesthetic appeal. 

This update came after the last time commissioners discussed the project on March 24, when staff first indicated there would be new costs. After that meeting, the commissioners asked for staff to take a deeper dive into these costs. 

In fall 2024, Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization and Florida Department of Transportation told the town that 2030 funding could be accelerated to 2026 for the Broadway Roundabout project. 

Project cost estimates were around $5.4 million to $6 million. 

The FDOT then agreed to take on management of the project and most of the financial responsibility, which hurled the project into an accelerated schedule. 

Staying within the 2030 funding timeline would allow the town to address certain conflicts, such as utility relocation, over a longer period, thus spreading out the costs. 

The project team is discovering all the preliminary construction items that need to happen before the main roundabout project begins.

What would have happened over four to five years is now happening in one year.

“What’s resulting is we’re now seeing what those conflicts now look like,” Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman said. “What you’re seeing in the costs that are rapidly appearing before us is a result of the accelerated schedule.” 

The main cost stems from the need to relocate utility infrastructure to prevent any future problems with utilities during or after construction. Design and construction costs for this are anticipated to be around $1.1 million. 

With landscape design and other costs, including adding pavers rather than concrete, the total new potential costs come in around $1.7 million. The town has spent no dollars on this yet, but the costs would need to be factored into the town’s fiscal year 2026 budget to keep the project on track. 

One expense that needs to happen this year, though, is the remainder of the design. The town has already spent around $360,000 on design, and the next phase of design — more complex due to a larger scope — will cost an additional $569,000. 

Brownman said the FDOT would credit the town $112,000 for the next design phase. 

All in before the credit, that’s around $929,000 for the design of the roundabout. 

That includes about $280,000 for the initial design, which was rejected by FDOT in 2023 when it neared 90% completion. FDOT said it would not sign off on the design because of the road’s existing banking, or slope. 

Brownman said the town could use leftover funds in the $739,401 budgeted for the Broadway Roundabout in FY25 for the next design cost. 

The project team expects momentum to pick up quickly with the project toward the end of 2025 and into 2026. 

“We’re not years away, we’re months away from getting some solid bids,” Brownman said. 

Bid pricing should come around February or March 2026. 

As the preliminary project items progress, Brownman said staff would update commissioners on any other costs that may arise.

Co-Chair of Longboat Key North and north-end resident Maureen Merrigan spoke at the April 7 meeting and expressed frustration in the FDOT’s recent delegation of costs. 

Overall, though, she was thankful the town was taking the additional steps that may cause the additional costs, like moving utilities to prevent future problems and reinstating a landscape buffer. 

“I appreciate from the community standpoint having that $150,000 buffer being put in,” Merrigan said. “Landscaping was a huge issue for the community.”

Town leaders have discussed the Broadway Roundabout since about 2012, which began as an idea to improve pedestrian, cyclist and motorist safety at the intersection. 

“The initial impetus of the project was safer crossings for cyclists and pedestrians at that intersection where it’s an uphill climb across several lanes of traffic,” Brownman said. “It's not an ideal; it’s not even a safe crossing.”

Brownman added the roundabout would allow for safer left-hand turn maneuvers on all sides of the roundabout and can act as a welcoming “gateway” with the enhanced aesthetics. 

The scope of the project is around a half mile. 

The Broadway Roundabout will become the first piece of the town’s complete streets vision and could set an example of how the project will look along Gulf of Mexico Drive, Brownman said. This includes enhanced bike lanes and multi-use paths.