Bird Key bridge seawalls to be repaired

Pheasant Drive work first on the list, with late June start anticipated

The Pheasant Drive bridge is one of four on Bird Key. Image courtesy City of Sarasota
The Pheasant Drive bridge is one of four on Bird Key. Image courtesy City of Sarasota

The seawalls on Bird Key’s four bridges will be the focus of safety improvements this year, Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin has announced.

No road closures are expected as the work is undertaken, he wrote in his June 17 newsletter.

The bridge on Pheasant Drive will be the first on the schedule, Barwin noted, with the work planned to begin at the end of June and run through August.

All of the projects will entail concrete repairs, correcting voids behind the seawalls, installing sheet piling and replacing seawall caps and anchors, Barwin added.

For the Pheasant Drive project, he continued, the water in the area will have to be removed — the only one of these bridge initiatives for which de-watering will be necessary. “To accomplish this, a pump will have to run 24 hours a day throughout the project,” he noted. Staff is researching a device that would reduce the noise, he pointed out.

The tentative work schedule for the other bridges follows:

  • Wild Turkey Lane: mid-July to early October.
  • South Bird Key Drive: late July to early November.

•  North Bird Key Drive: early August to early December.