What Style Bridge Is Right For Anna Maria Island?
It's being report in news media that both supporters and opponents for the proposed "65 ft high fixed span bridge", as a replacement for the existing Anna Maria Bridge, are bracing for what could be yet another long drawn out debate before a final decision is made.
Supporters of a new fixed span bridge argue it will be safer and faster for travelers and better for island evacuations during hurricane season.
Meanwhile, a local resident group insists they want Anna Maria Island joined to the mainland by a drawbridge. The reason they say, "because it is more attractive and charming".
Some residence say its nice to do what can be done to maintain that old Florida charm that Anna Maria Island is so famous for, but not at the cost of safety.
Falling In Love With The Old Florida Charm Of Anna Maria Island.
DOT Favors 65 Foot High Fixed Span Bridge
It is common knowledge that the Florida Department of Transportation favors replacing the drawbridge with a fixed-span bridge with 65 feet of clearance for vessels. Following the meeting of April 15th with the Manatee Council of Governments, Florida Department of Transportation project manager, Chris Piazza, cautioned that this is not the DOT’s formal recommendation to the U.S. Coast Guard, the agency that makes the ultimate decision on new bridges across the Intracoastal Waterway.
“This is our recommendation at this point. We are still getting public opinion before we officially notify the Coast Guard,” Piazza said.
DOT officials will discuss the fate of the exisitng drawbridge with the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) today. On Tuesday, they will make the same presentation before the Manatee County Commission.
According to Piazza, if those elected officials at either of these meetings can change the DOT’s current opinion, the recommendation to the Coast Guard will change as well. Otherwise, recommendations to the coast guard will be as they are today.
Paying For The Fixed Span Bridge
The cost of a high-rise bridge is estimated at $102 million, about $30 million less than a drawbridge would cost, Piazza said in March.
Last week, County commissioners asked U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, to seek federal dollars for a fixed-span replacement for the existing drawbridge. They've asked that Congress pay $82 million and the DOT cover the remaining $20.5 million for design, right-of-way acquisition and construction.
Bridge Is Vital Link
Connecting Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key To Mainland
"This project is a vital link connecting Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key and Lido Key to the mainland and serves as a primary evacuation route during major storm events," Commission Chairwoman Gwen Brown wrote Buchanan.
Existing Bridge a Safety Concern
Commissioner Carol Whitmore, former mayor of Holmes Beach and a nurse, has been quoted as saying, "the half-century-old drawbridge is a public safety concern." She contends that it can delay ambulances and other emergency vehicles... and she is not alone. Other Anna Maria Island residence feel very much that the existing bridge is a safety issue and needs to be replaced with a bridge of fixed span design.
Save Anna Maria Group Opposed To Proposed Bridge
The existing Anna Maria bridge has just recently had more than nine million dollars spent on it. The money was spent on repairs and improvements, and is expected to add 15 years of life to the structure. Yet the group, 'Save Anna Maria', still opposes what it calls a "mega bridge". The group says it believes a new fixed span bridge will scar the Old Florida charm and skyline of the island.
"It's a preservation issue," Ursula Stemm, SAM's president, said. "We also don't feel they are cognizant of the ecosystem. Once it's gone, it's gone."
SAM is not without a history when it comes to the Anna Maria Island bridge. In 1998, SAM successfully defeated a DOT plan for a high-span bridge. It convinced an administrative law judge that, "the project had legal notice and environmental study flaws and that a dredge-and-fill permit should be denied".
“We’ve already spoken to our legal counsel and we have the same grassy-bed issue as before. We are going to fight the DOT,” Stemm said.
Concerns Over Bridge As Evacuation Route
Many Anna Maria residence are concerned about a high-level span as an evacuation route, especially during strong winds. With an elevation of roughly 80 feet, the concern is that if winds are high enough, the bridge may have to be closed. Chris Piazza, the DOT's project manager, however, has stated that if an evacuation were ordered, islanders would be evacuated long before the winds exceeded 55 mph and the bridge closed to traffic.
Majority of Anna Maria Island Residence Support High Fixed Span Bridge
The DOT has reported that of 463 residents that responded to a recent survey, 83 percent favored replacing the drawbridge. Of that 83 percent of respondents, 77 percent favored a high-level fixed span instead of a low- or mid-level bridge.
The high-rise, fixed-span recommendation is based on several factors, Piazza said, not the least of which is that 83 percent of people surveyed by the DOT the past year preferred a replacement bridge rather than continued rehabilitation of the 52-year-old structure.
According to Piazza, other critical factors supporting the current bridge recommendations by Florida's DOT are engineering analysis and environmental studies.
Battle Over The Bridges
Islanders anticipating either a legal battle over a high-rise bridge, or the start of construction, may have a long time to wait.
The DOT has no money or a timetable for the project. There are no funds for engineering, design, or environmental impact studies for a new AMI Bridge in the Manatee-Sarasota Metropolitan Planning Organization’s current five-year master transportation plan.
DOT officials have indicated that it would be a minimum 10-12 years for a new bridge project to get under way. A more likely time frame is 15 to 20 years, Piazza has said previously.
It seems pretty obvious that the proposed high fixed span bridge will be safer, faster for travelers and better during major storms. It would also be better for boat traffic. As with automobiles, boat traffic would no longer have to wait for the bridge.
Then there is the cost-savings. It is much cheaper to build and maintain a state of the art solid structure bridge than it is to build a new draw bridge or maintain an old mechanical one.
Some have said it could be argued that the bridge attendants' jobs would be lost, but the new bridge's construction would create hundreds of jobs. Has there been a more important time in recent history to create jobs?
We all would like to maintain that old-fashioned Florida charm Anna Maria Island is so famous for, but do we want to maintain it at the cost to safety and common sense? Of course not.
A reader of the Herald Tribune recently wrote in saying, "the relatively new Ringling bridge in Sarasota unquestionably has become the city's centerpiece and is truly a great landmark. There is no reason why the same results can't be achieved for Anna Maria Island. If the proposed bridge is designed and built with safety and beauty as its cornerstones, it will be a victory for all."
Hmmm, so there could be compromise after all ;-)
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