Avoiding gridlock: Manatee water taxi feasibility study to be presented to county
The goal of starting a water taxi service linking Bradenton and Palmetto and the beaches of Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key has surfaced again and appears to be getting closer to reality.
For at least the fourth time this year, the concept was broached Monday at a Manatee County Tourist Development Council meeting.
Ed Chiles, the longest-serving member of the tourism board, asked whether the concept is getting any closer, or whether the board is just going to continue talking about it?
That question was directed at Mark Stuckey, chief operating officer for Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, but also Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and to Chiles’ fellow board members.
Stuckey allowed that the airport is very close to Sarasota Bay and that a water taxi was not out of the realm of possibility.
Falcione said his office has been meeting with water taxi operators, and that he is close to presenting a report to Scott Hopes, county administrator, on the viability of starting a water taxi service.
“It’s bold, but I think we need to be bold. We aren’t going to build another bridge to the island in our lifetime. We need to do something so we don’t suffer gridlock,” Chiles said.
Heavy vehicle traffic from mainland Bradenton to Anna Maria Island and limited beachside parking have helped put the long-discussed water taxi service back in the spotlight.
A proposed water taxi service would allow travelers to board in Palmetto and Bradenton and travel to the Anna Maria City Pier, Waterline Resort in Holmes Beach and the Bradenton Beach Pier, and vice versa.
The finger docks in Bradenton Beach at 200 Bridge Street can now accommodate a water taxi service, Falcione said.
Misty Servia, chair of the tourism board, said the proposal has also been rolled out to the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, which recommends priorities for spending transportation funding in the two-county area, as well as to federal officials.
Meanwhile, the City of Anna Maria Island now has a contract with Mote Marine Laboratory to bring a marine education center to the Anna Maria City Pier, 100 N. Bay Blvd.
A shell building at the end of the pier would become a learning center for tourists and locals alike.
“The timeline committed to by Mote is an opening date of March 2022. The next step in the process is for Mote to provide my office with a set of plans which I will take before our city commission for approval,” Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said in an email Monday about the prospects for getting the marine education center operational.
“Based upon a meeting which I had with Mote this morning, we expect to have those plans to be submitted in two-three weeks.” Murphy said.
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 3:03 PM.
