Regional Priorities Highlight DeSoto Bridge Replacement, Bradenton-Palmetto Corridor Study
By Lisa Neff
Advancing the DeSoto Bridge replacement project and completing a study on a Bradenton-Palmetto connector across the Manatee River are among the top priorities in a project list being developed for the Florida Department of Transportation.
The Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, a regional transportation entity, is developing its 2026 project priorities to submit to the state. Such lists, created annually from applications from county and city governing boards, are used to program funding, including in the state’s five-year work program.
Members of the MPO governing board, which is chaired by Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, received a draft list during a meeting in late January, as well as an update on the process from MPO planner Nina Venter.
“By Feb. 20, we are asking for local agencies to approve the projects,” Venter said, adding, “this is sort of the last and final step of the submission process.”
She also said details might change, project placement might move on the list.
“I know that there are projects that have been flagged,” Venter said.
The DOT’s current five-year work plan contains some funds for the bridge replacement and bridge capacity projects, as well as studying a planned extension of the multiuse SUN Trail in Bradenton from 75th Street West to Ninth Street West.
The DeSoto project, which involves replacing the U.S. 41 bridge connecting Bradenton and Palmetto, is in the design phase. Construction could cost more than $168 million.
The Bradenton-Palmetto Corridor project, currently in the study phase, involves evaluating three alternatives to improve mobility, safety and connectivity for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. The DOT recently held several workshops on the project to gather community input on the potential options.
Other projects partially or fully funded in the current five-year work program include replacement of Anna Maria Island’s bridges, improvements on Palmetto’s 10th Avenue, creating a roundabout on Longboat Key’s north end.
The draft list also contains currently unfunded priorities, including a context sensitive design to improve Bradenton’s Ninth Street West from Ninth Avenue West to 26th Avenue West. With a context sensitive design, planners seek to develop projects that fit a physical setting and maintain safety, mobility and community character.
Other listed priorities include engineering intersection improvements at Cortez Road and 75th Street West and completing context sensitive designs for multimodal projects in Bradenton’s Ninth Avenue West and 17th Avenue West, as well as an right-of-way acquisition for safety improvements on Cortez at 26th Street West.
Venter said the MPO’s goal is to provide a preliminary list to the DOT by March 31 and then provide a final list by June 30 so the priorities can be considered for funding by in the next tentative five-year work program — fiscal years 2027-28-2031-32.