No funding available now for proposed Tara Bridge in East Manatee

A proposed Tara Bridge project will not be included in Manatee County’s five-year Capital Improvement Program presented this June, according to the county administrator.

In a memo sent to the county commission Tuesday afternoon, Ed Hunzeker said they “do not contemplate adding the Tara Bridge project” to the five-year CIP.

The bridge, which would go across the Braden River at Tara Boulevard, connecting Honore Avenue to State Road 70, has recently been a topic of conversation in the community. Earlier this month, the county commission voted to discuss the bridge’s construction when the commission discusses the CIP during this summer’s budget talks.

But while the Tara Bridge will remain on the county’s Long Range Transportation Plan, “there can be no projected construction timeline until there is a definitive way to pay for the bridge,” Hunzeker said in the memo.

Since the bridge, which has been part of the county’s Comprehensive Plan since 1989, would add capacity to accommodate new growth, it should be funded entirely by impact fees, Hunzeker said.

“All of the projected impact fees collected in the Southeast impact fee zone of the county are programmed to fund the debt service for the construction of 44th Avenue,” Hunzeker said. “Given the magnitude of the 44th Avenue project, until design and construction costs are determined, we should not commit to any other new project in the southeast zone.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 3:58 PM with the headline "No funding available now for proposed Tara Bridge in East Manatee."