FDOT staffer discovered wrong amount in earlier agreement
In unanimously approving their Consent Agenda of routine business matters on June 3, the Sarasota County commissioners revoked a funding agreement that they approved on March 11 with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which would have covered most of the expense of the design of a temporary road segment on Manasota Key.
The reason for the action last week was the inclusion in that FDOT document of the wrong figure. A county staff memo that was part of the June 3 agenda packet explained that FDOT staff discovered the error.
With the same June 3 vote, the commissioners unanimously approved a new agreement with FDOT for the correct amount.
FDOT is providing the county $468,835 for the design of a 2,400-foot-long, reconstructed section of Manasota Key Road in the area where the road suffered major damage last year from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The FDOT Local Agency Program Agreement on the March 11 agenda cited an FDOT award of $457,791 for the design. The correct figure, the June 3 county memo said, is $468,835.
The total estimated expense of the design work is $572,239, the memo added.
The March agreement did require that the county put up $114,448 for the design work. The June 3 agreement calls for the county to contribute $103,404. That money will be transferred from a county fund designated for disaster preparedness, the memo noted.
FDOT’s contribution will come out of federal funds that it receives, the agreements show.
The agreements also note that the project must be completed before June 30, 2027.
During the commission’s regular meeting on March 26, Spencer Anderson, director of the Public Works Department, told the commissioners that he expects the design process for the temporary road segment to take two years. Another two or three years is the estimate for construction, he added, with a total expense of approximately $2.5 million. That figure, he explained, would cover what he called an initiative with “a minimum scope” that would provide two travel lanes.
Anderson also reminded the board members that day that Hurricanes Helene and Milton “completely washed out” the road segment in the fall of 2024.
Those storms, he noted, struck Manasota Key about a year after “we had just finished replacement of the road after [Hurricane] Idalia [wrought significant damage to it].” That project cost about $4.5 million, he added, and it took about 120 days.
Following his March 26 presentation, the board members voted unanimously to direct the county’s Public Works Department staff to proceed with constructing a temporary emergency access road on Manasota Key until a new, permanent structure can be built.
Representatives of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had made it clear, Anderson also reported, that they would not provide any funding for the temporary road, as they believed the public could use a detour of approximately 14 miles to reach one end of the Key from the other.
Anderson said he was not sure that the county could get any funding from the state, either, for construction of the temporary road.