Community outreach manager for FDOT alludes to potential project in 2030
During a July 9 public hearing that the Sarasota County Commission conducted on a proposal that would have affected Siesta Key, the vice president of the Siesta Key Condominium Council referenced plans for the replacement of the Stickney Point Road drawbridge.
As that bridge is the primary access to and from the mainland for residents and visitors on the southern portion of the barrier island, it is critical in hurricane evacuations and in other situations, including those when EMS personnel are needed to attend to people who have suffered medical emergencies, Neal Schleifer told the board members.
Yet, he said, “It’s been reported” that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is considering replacing the bridge, even though a repair-and-rehabilitation project is underway on the structure.
More than likely, Schleifer pointed out, if a new bridge were to be constructed, only two of the four lanes would be available to drivers as the work proceeded, with the overall project taking “at least a couple of years.”
In a July 23 email that Robert Luckner, acting treasurer of the Siesta Key Association (SKA) forwarded to The Sarasota News Leader, Barbara Catlin, community outreach manager for FDOT, did allude to the fact that discussion was underway regarding the replacement of the Stickney Point Road drawbridge — in 2030. However, she indicated that it is too early for the department’s Five-Year Work Program, which is updated regularly, to include any information about that project in District One, which encompasses Sarasota County.
A News Leader check later the same day of those program details for District One found that the latest information provided is for FDOT’s 2029 fiscal year. (Each Florida government agency begins its fiscal year on July 1.)
Further, on July 23, the News Leader sent an inquiry to the communications specialist for District One, regarding the reports about the bridge replacement.
Patricia Pichette, communications specialist for District One, responded that afternoon.
“The current work being performed on the Stickney Point Road drawbridge is repair/rehabilitation,” she first explained. “Basically, maintenance (which in this case includes electrical, recoating the super and substructure, repainting and any structural repairs, if necessary). “This is the type of work FDOT does to protect bridge structures from the harsh marine environment,” Pichette added.
Then, confirming Catlin’s email to Luckner of the SKA, Pichette pointed out, “Currently there is no bridge replacement project for Stickney Point Bridge in the FDOT Five-year work program 2025-2029 (not for design or construction).”
In the meantime, that repair/rehabilitation project on the Stickney Point Road drawbridge has necessitated some lane closures, as FDOT had indicated when it announced the project.
The News Leader reviewed the details for that initiative, as noted in the Five-Year Work Program.
The document points out that the project began on June 10; the contract calls for 202 days of work, with 35 of those — or 17.33% —used as of July 23.
The contractor is Drax, Inc., it adds. That firm, a “full-service heavy civil contracting company,” as its website says, is located in Madison, Wis.
The total expense for the undertaking on the drawbridge is $252,951, the FDOT Five-Year Work Program notes.