Commissioners to discuss next steps during March 26 meeting
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has agreed to provide Sarasota County $457,791 for the redesign of a 2,400-foot section of Manasota Key Road that Hurricanes Helene and Milton nearly destroyed in 2024.
The total cost of the work, a county memo said, has been put at $527,239.
During their regular meeting on March 26, which will be held at the County Administration in downtown Sarasota, the commissioners are scheduled to discuss the next steps they wish staff to pursue in regard to repairs of the road. A staff memo included in that agenda packet points out that county staff members are working with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) “to process necessary authorizations for permanent repairs including improvements to mitigate future damages …” The design and construction are “expected to take at least 4 years,” the memo adds.
“In the meantime,” the memo notes, “installation of a temporary emergency access road would most likely be reimbursable by FHWA. If so directed by the Board. temporary emergency access road construction services would be procured under existing emergency authorizations.”
As part of their unanimous approval of their Consent Agenda of routine business matters during their March 11 meeting, the board members formally approved county staff’s execution of what is called a Local Agency Agreement with FDOT for the funding.
As a staff memo explained, the affected segment of the road, which “runs along the shoreline, sustained significant damage as a result of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.” The base of the road and the asphalt pavement were “significantly washed out,” the memo added, necessitating “a total closure of the roadway from the 6700 block up to Blind Pass Beach.”
Just after midday on Sept. 27 — in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s passage through the Gulf — county staff posted photos on its Facebook page of the conditions on Manasota Key Road north of Blind Pass Beach Park. “The roadway is washed out and is closed,” the post pointed out.
The post included five photos illustrating the damage.
The Local Agency Agreement with FDOT makes it clear that the state department will provide the funds out of a federal allocation that it has received; no state dollars are involved. That document also notes that county staff “is required to provide a copy of the design plans for the Department’s review and approval to coordinate permitting with the Department and notify the Department prior to commencement of any right-of-way activities.”
Further, the agreement makes it clear that FDOT will provide the money in the form of a reimbursement.
The staff memo included in the March 11 agenda packet also noted that a county Request for Professional Services for the design work is being drafted and will be advertised this spring.