FDOT plans Cortez ‘mega-bridge’ replacement. Here’s how residents are fighting back
A band of Cortez residents are hoping they can change the Florida Department of Transportation’s decision to build a 65-foot fixed-span replacement for the Cortez Bridge.
Leading the charge is former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash, who filed a petition for a formal administrative hearing on the case. He argues that FDOT misrepresented key information in their final report and believes a 35-foot drawbridge design would be more in line with Cortez’s historic image.
“FDOT did a very poor job of demonstrating the effect this bridge will have. It divides the community and the historic nature of Cortez,” said McClash. “The biggest concern is the aesthetics we’re trying to maintain in the community.”
Residents and business owners say the bridge would completely disrupt the character of the village, which has been recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. In a 2014 Cultural Resource Assessment, FDOT argued that “none of the bridge alternatives will have an adverse effect on the district.”
But with a massive new bridge, critics say FDOT isn’t putting enough weight behind what the community actually wants to see.
“The length is going to be equal to about three football fields and it’s a concrete wall, so you don’t have any sloping natural vegetation,” McClash pointed out. “This is the same as installing a 3 or 4-story building in front of these historic homes. It’s just poor planning to do something like this.”
In its Oct. 10 announcement of the final plan, FDOT said the 65-foot bridge would be $24 million cheaper to build than a 35-foot drawbridge. There are even more cost savings in the long-term, without the need for maintenance of the moving parts and electrical equipment that a drawbridge would require. The taller bridge will also allow the vast majority of local boats to sail under it without issue.
FDOT’s 204-page final engineering report goes into more detail, explaining that the U.S. Coast Guard mandates 65 feet as the minimum height for a fixed bridge over Sarasota Bay. Even the current Cortez Bridge’s nearly 18 feet of vertical clearance isn’t enough to meet USCG’s standards for a new drawbridge.
In his petition, which is supported by several local organizations and residents, McClash is contesting a number of FDOT’s conclusions, including whether the agency accurately represented a traffic analysis for the 35-foot drawbridge, whether the agency properly counted residents’ survey responses and whether the agency had a bias in favor of the 65-foot bridge option.
“It’s not really fair in this case because you have FDOT gets the final say. It’s kind of like a fox in a hen house,” McClash said.
There are other Manatee County leaders fighting against FDOT’s recommendation, as well. County Commissioner Carol Whitmore has been an outspoken critic of the decision and vowed to fight the 65-foot plan even if she doesn’t have the support of her colleagues on the Board of County Commissioners.
“We’re losing a little bit of what makes us different in Manatee County every time I turn around, whether it’s with the beach and the Australian pines or this bridge,” Whitmore said. “We’re trying to protect what little we have left.”
Whitmore, an Anna Maria Island resident for more than 50 years, argues that a new bridge is certain to disrupt the character of the village. She also felt the new “mega-bridge” wouldn’t ease traffic concerns.
“I think there’s still going to be a backup,” she said. “The traffic circle (at Cortez Road and Gulf Drive North) is what’s going to help — not the bridge.”
It’s not the first time a bridge replacement has faced harsh criticism in Cortez. Community members have stood against the taller variant ever since FDOT began studying alternatives to the aging bridge in the early 1990s.
“We have fought and fought and fought to keep Cortez intact and the way it is,” said Linda Molto, a 34-year Cortezian who has signed on to McClash’s petition. “We love the bridge we have now. We wouldn’t even mind if they made it a toll bridge. We just want them to stick to with this one and repair it.”
“We’re a low-rise village and we have a vision,” she added.
FDOT moved to dismiss the petition shortly after McClash’s filing, claiming that the agency was acting on the federal government’s behalf through a memorandum of understanding.
However, McClash has since filed an amended petition. The state has not ruled on the latest filing, but if successful, the case would come before an administrative law judge who could send FDOT back to the drawing board to review its findings.
Heading into 2020, Cortez residents plan to host community meetings on the status of the bridge legal battle.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
