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Tag: Longboat Pass Bridge

Coast Guard investigates tour boat striking bridge

Coast Guard investigates tour boat striking bridge

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Boating, Featured, Outdoors.

LONGBOAT PASS – What began as a leisurely sunset boat ride turned into a frightening experience for a family of tourists on June 9.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Georgia resident Stephanie Bridges wrote that she and her family went on a sunset dolphin cruise from Bradenton Beach Marina that evening on the Anna Maria Explorer and that the boat hit the Longboat Pass Bridge several times.

“We were nearly at the end of our tour when the captain pointed our boat toward the Longboat Pass Bridge,” Bridges wrote. “One of my family members noted that we were traveling a bit too fast through the pillars when all of a sudden we crashed into the concrete bridge pylon – the one that supports the bridge. The captain began to try to get out of the pass, putting the boat into reverse and proceeded to crash into one of the pylons again.”

Coast Guard investigates tour boat striking bridge
Stephanie Bridges posted Facebook photos of the tour boat she and her family were on after she said it struck the Longboat Pass Bridge. – Submitted

Bridges wrote that everyone on board put on lifejackets.

“We received zero instruction as to what was happening or how to put the life vests on. The captain and his first mate were silent,” she wrote. “The boat hit the concrete pylon again. Finally, the captain gets us out of the pass and away from the Gulf and back into the bay. He then asks if we want to continue to watch the sunset!! At this point, everyone on board was completely traumatized.”

“My brother went to the captain worried and asking him what was happening. He told my brother that ‘We have some steering on one motor and none on the other,’” she wrote, adding that there were babies and elderly family members on board. “The captain made no effort to call anyone to help us. No call to 911, no call to the Coast Guard, no help. It was a tense 45-minute struggle back to the marina with limited steering. There were some injuries. The captain told us when we got back that he was sorry and that he would give us a refund.”

Bridges said she reported the incident to the U.S. Coast Guard.

“I felt that the incident had to be reported. Upon speaking with the Coast Guard, I was told there had not been any reports made by the company. I was told that there had been dealings with this captain before,” she wrote.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed they are investigating the incident.

“We can confirm that there was an allision (a moving vessel hitting a stationary object) between an inspected passenger vessel and the Longboat Pass Bridge on Sunday, June 9. This allision was considered a marine casualty and is currently being investigated by the Coast Guard,” Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Santiago Gomez wrote in a June 14 email to The Sun. “Coast Guard regulations currently require marine employers to take all practical steps after a Serious Marine Incident to have each individual engaged or employed on board a vessel in commercial service, who is directly involved in the incident, chemically tested for evidence of drug and alcohol use.”

“My family went back to the marina the next day to get our refund. No one had reached out to us, so we went to speak with them in person,” Bridges wrote. “The owner of the company, Shawn Kaleta, spoke with us. He seemed like he didn’t know much about what had happened. We questioned him on protocol, but he didn’t know what the protocol was. He did state that the captain had been fired. He basically finished the conversation saying they gave us the refund and there wasn’t much else he could do.”

The Sun contacted the Bradenton Beach Marina on June 14 for comment. No response was received by press time.

Officials discuss state plan to replace Longboat Pass Bridge

Officials discuss state plan to replace Longboat Pass Bridge

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News.

LONGBOAT KEY – Members of the Coalition of Barrier Island Elected Officials (BIEO) discussed the proposed new Longboat Pass Bridge on April 17.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District One has initiated a project development and environment study for SR 789 (Gulf Drive/Gulf of Mexico Drive) from North Shore Road on Longboat Key to the Coquina Beach entrance in Bradenton Beach.

“The study will evaluate alternatives to replace the existing SR 789 bridge over Longboat Pass. Alternatives to be evaluated will include rehabilitation of the existing bridge, a new high-level fixed bridge and moveable bridge,” according to FDOT.

“There are three options, with challenges and opportunities to each,” Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton said. “There’s one that’s too tall, one that’s too low and one that’s just right. We’re hoping it’s just right.”

The Longboat Pass Bridge was built in 1957 and renovated in 2005 and 2020. The bridge is classified as functionally obsolete due to substandard shoulders and traffic barriers, according to FDOT.

If constructed, a new bridge is planned to be wider than the existing bridge to provide safer accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians. Additional travel lanes for vehicles are not being proposed.

Tipton said the new bridge would be moved to the west and closer to condominiums at the north end of Longboat Key.

“That’s understandable because that’s where their (FDOT’s) right-of-way is,” he said. “It does impact condominiums at the very north end of town and brings it from 120 feet or so to about 30 feet, so it’ll be up close and personal, and we want to try to work with them as much as we can for sound mitigation.”

Tipton said the new bridge will allow improved traffic flow.

“We had a meeting with the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) last week and we talked about the corridor from Cortez coming south to Longboat. And now it is a longer trip than anyone would expect,” he said. “The MPO is looking to circle back around and look at the bare ground of the traffic study.”

He said the traffic not only impacts residents and visitors but also those who work in Longboat Key.

“One of the hardest things for workers is let’s say they get hired in July and once season starts, they say, ‘I didn’t sign up for this’ and we lose folks that way,” Tipton said. “It’s the restaurants, it’s the hotels, it’s everybody.”

The issue of traffic also plays into the ferry conversation with Manatee County, he said.

“Is there a location where they can congregate on the mainland side?” he asked.

“There’s been a lot of construction in your city,” Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said to Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie. “Was there a lot of parking added in Bradenton Beach?”

“I think they’ve added well over 100 spaces” at Coquina Beach, Chappie said.

“When everybody is leaving at the end of the day and they add 200 or 300 parking spots, that’s 200 or 300 more cars you have to wait for,” Titsworth said.

“Don’t misunderstand where the traffic is coming from. I would say a lot of that traffic, most of that traffic, is coming from Longboat Key, not the beach,” Chappie said. “I live on that end of town, and it will be bumper to bumper during season at 8 or 9 o’clock. That’s not beach people.”

Chappie said he thinks both the proposed new Longboat Pass and Cortez bridges will help with traffic congestion.

“I had a recent meeting with our state representatives and one thing we talked about was the turn lanes to Cortez Road,” Chappie said. “Once the new (Cortez) bridge is completed, the merge lane will be expanded significantly. What people are doing at that intersection is stopping. You don’t stop, you use the merge lane to merge into traffic. It’s all about keeping the flow.”

Island bridges, roundabouts on DOT radar

Island bridges, roundabouts on DOT radar

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News, Longboat Key.

BRADENTON BEACH – The members of the Coalition of Barrier Island Elected Officials had a lot to think about when Florida Department of Transportation representative Albert Rosenstein appeared before them to give an update on ongoing projects.

Roundabouts

Rosenstein said the two roundabouts planned for Manatee Avenue in Holmes Beach are almost through the department’s approval process. A planned roundabout for Manatee Avenue at East Bay Drive is in the last of three stages of approval. He said that no right of way acquisition is needed for the project, but it will wait for construction until the accompanying roundabout at Manatee Avenue and Gulf Drive can be built.

The roundabout at Manatee Avenue and Gulf Drive, at the main entrance to Manatee Beach, is in the second stage of approval. Rosenstein said this roundabout does require a right of way purchase. Construction on the roundabouts is expected to take place at the same time and is currently not funded. An extension of the northbound turn lane from Manatee Avenue to Gulf Drive is currently funded in the fifth year of the DOT’s current funding cycle.

How to Navigate a Roundabout
To navigate a single-lane roundabout, vehicles are required to reduce speed to 10 to 15 miles per hour when approaching the roundabout. Drivers must look for and yield to bicyclists and pedestrians. The two roundabouts planned for Holmes Beach will have pedestrian crosswalks at each of the four entrances to the roundabout. All vehicles circle the roundabout to the right. Drivers entering the roundabout must yield to the vehicles already in the roundabout. Enter the roundabout when there is a gap in traffic and do not stop or attempt to pass other vehicles. Use a turn signal to indicate when exiting the roundabout.
Drivers should never stop once in the roundabout but can slow down to allow another vehicle to enter. If an emergency vehicle comes through the roundabout, drive to the nearest exit and then move over beyond the splitter island. – FDOT

Anna Maria Island Bridge

Design plans are expected to be complete in late 2019 for the new high-span Anna Maria Island Bridge on Manatee Avenue. The bridge will have a 65-foot navigational clearance with a 74-foot maximum height and a 4 percent grade. A new bridge is planned to lift off and set down in the footprint of the current bridge and be constructed just to the south of the existing drawbridge. Though the new bridge is on the DOT’s advanced project list, Rosenstein said it’s currently unfunded.

Cortez Bridge

Though Rosenstein didn’t know if the plans were still negotiable, he said that the favored replacement for the aging Cortez Bridge is a high-span bridge also with 65 feet of navigable space underneath the bridge. Because the bridge would have to be slightly shorter than the Anna Maria Bridge, Rosenstein said the current projections show the bridge with a 5 percent grade. Currently, the bridge is awaiting the design phase and construction is unfunded. Rosenstein said he expects the concept for the replacement bridge to be officially approved in October. With the Cortez Bridge, he said there will be right of way acquisitions or imposition of eminent domain by the department. The new bridge is planned to be constructed just to the north of the existing drawbridge.

Longboat Pass Bridge

Beginning June 10, Rosenstein said that repair work will begin on the Longboat Pass Bridge. Construction is expected to take approximately 80 days to complete. Lane closures will occur Mondays through Thursdays from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. with no closures planned on the weekends. Lanes could be closed for up to 15 minutes periodically from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. during the week for testing with no detours planned. Two days of detours for machinery to be brought on or removed from the bridge are planned from midnight to 5 a.m. The days of those detours and the path of the detours are not yet known.

Related coverage

New details emerge for high-span bridge

A wake up call on the proposed Cortez Bridge