Contractor equipment already fills the county-owned lot where the Seafood Shack used to stand, at the mainland foot of the Cortez Bridge. Manatee County bought the property in 2024 for $13 million. Starting this month, SEMA Construction will use it as the base for the Florida Department of Transportation's replacement of the bridge. Construction is tentatively set to begin Monday, Nov. 9.
The license agreement for that lot also requires SEMA to build a docking, storage and fueling area for the county's Gulf Islands Ferry. So the same project that will put lane closures on Cortez Road for the next few years is also building support facilities for the boats on the water route, and that route reached the south end of the island this September.
What the County Traded for a Quieter Cortez Road
On Oct. 20, Manatee County commissioners voted 5-1 to give SEMA a four-year license to use the former Seafood Shack property as a staging area. Commissioner Jason Bearden cast the only no vote. According to The Sun's report on the vote, part of the deal makes up for a delay the county caused. The county's project to replace a water main under the Intracoastal Waterway is running well behind schedule. The old main sits where SEMA has to drive pilings for the first stage of the new bridge, and that work was supposed to start in June. In return for using the land, SEMA agreed not to seek delay costs from the county or the state. County Utilities Chief Engineer Chad Butzow put that figure at about $1.4 million.
The project is large. SEMA's Justin Oakes told commissioners it will take more than 3,000 truckloads over a 1,200-day contract period, which works out to three to five loads a day. He said that without the second parcel on the property, the contractor would have relied heavily on the state right-of-way in front of Tide Tables, and that would have meant daily lane closures on Cortez Road. Tide Tables' co-owners supported the agreement because it keeps staging out of their parking lot.
Residents of the neighborhoods north of the bridge objected. They said they had agreed in July that the second parcel would hold only overflow parking for light vehicles. The site map now labels it for contractor material assembly and staging as well. Oakes said that area will be fenced, gated and posted, and crews will assemble forms and rebar cages there before loading them straight onto barges.
The Clock That Starts Monday
FDOT lists the job as project 430204-2. Its project page puts the cost at $123 million and the duration at about 1,200 days. Senior projects engineer Dustin Spears told The Sun at FDOT's Oct. 20 information session that Cortez Road will not close completely. Individual lanes will close from time to time, with no limits on when. "Those can happen any time during the day," Spears said.
The tentative schedule FDOT has published runs in this order:
- This fall. The south sidewalk closes and pedestrians cross on the north side. Crews start on Hunters Point Way, a new road that will connect to 127th Street West and give access to Tide Tables. In-water work begins, with pilings for the new foundations and a temporary trestle on the north side of the existing bridge.
- Early 2027. Traffic moves to a temporary diversion roadway, and Hunters Point Way opens.
- Spring 2027. 127th Street West closes temporarily, with traffic detoured onto Hunters Point Way. Phase 1 ends after this stage.
- Spring 2028. Phase 2 begins. Traffic moves onto the new bridge, and demolition of the old one starts.
- Summer 2029. The entire bridge opens to traffic. Punch-list work wraps up in late 2029.
FDOT says the schedule may change. The first visible work will be on the water, starting on the north side at the east end of the existing bridge.
The Water Route Already Reaches the South End
The docking, storage and fueling area at the Seafood Shack site will serve a route that has been growing. On Sept. 2, the Gulf Islands Ferry made its first official run to a new stop at the Bayside South Boat Ramp, across the street from Coquina Beach. The Sun covered the first trip. The south end now has a water connection to downtown Bradenton that skips the Cortez Road approach entirely.
The service runs in two legs:
- Bradenton Riverwalk to the Historic Bridge Street Pier. The Manatee Belle covers this leg. It is the largest boat in the fleet, with 91 seats, an air-conditioned cabin and a restroom. The trip takes about 50 minutes.
- Bridge Street Pier to Bayside South. The Downtown Duchess, one of the two 48-passenger pontoon catamarans, makes this run in under 15 minutes.
- What you can bring. Beach chairs, coolers and other beach gear are allowed. Bicycles and pets are not. The Bayside South stop has a wheelchair lift.
- Fares. On the ferry's ticket page, the Bridge Street to Coquina leg costs $5 one way or $9 round trip for adults. The Riverwalk to Bridge Street leg costs $7 one way or $11 round trip. Children under 3 and seniors 80 and older ride free.
- Days. The Gulf Islands Ferry runs Thursday through Sunday, weather permitting.
Keenan Singleton of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau told The Sun that more than 55,000 passengers rode the ferries in 2025, which he estimated kept about 23,000 cars off the trip to and from Anna Maria Island. That was before the Coquina stop opened. The service is paid for by fares plus a county subsidy from tourist development tax revenue. Property taxes don't fund it.
The north end is a different story. Ferry service to the Anna Maria City Pier stopped in October 2024 after Hurricane Milton destroyed the pier walkway, and it isn't expected back before 2028. For now, the ferry serves Bradenton Beach.
The Other Two Bridges Stay Open to Traffic
There's no construction start on the calendar for the island's other two bridges. FDOT's Anna Maria Bridge replacement page shows the Manatee Avenue crossing still in design, with an estimated letting date of July 26, 2028, for a fixed bridge with 65 feet of clearance. The Longboat Pass Bridge project is still in study, with rehabilitation, a high-level fixed bridge and a movable bridge all under review.
Expect some overnight work in the meantime. The Sarasota/Manatee MPO's Traffic Watch for the week of Oct. 25 lists pedestrian and bicycle detection systems and electrical work underway on all three drawbridges: Cortez Road, Manatee Avenue and Longboat Pass. Lane closures are possible from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and testing is expected to finish in late 2026.
The Trolley Runs the Length of the Island
The free Route 5 Island Trolley links the two ends of all this. Manatee County Area Transit runs it between the Anna Maria City Pier and Coquina Beach every 20 minutes, from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., every day of the year. The current brochure took effect June 6, 2026. The trolley stops at Coquina Beach, across the street from where the ferry now lands. The operator's own site suggests switching to the trolley once you're on the island.
Where the Season Starts Without Cortez Road
This season's calendar mostly stays on the island. Most of these dates fall after work on the bridge is set to begin:
- Jaxx Wing Co. opened Oct. 22 at 3009 Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach, in the former Double Deez space. Owner Josh Hatch told The Sun that it's his fourth restaurant and that he wanted to fill a gap in late-night food. It opens daily at 11 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at midnight on Friday and Saturday. Hatch said the hours could change.
- Nov. 14: The Roser Holiday Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Roser Church Fellowship Hall, returns after a two-year break, according to the Anna Maria Island Chamber calendar.
- Nov. 21: AMI South End's Sundown Get Down Christmas Tree Lighting runs 2 to 8 p.m., with Santa, live entertainment, shopping and food.
- Dec. 4: The Chamber lights its tree at its Holmes Beach office, 5313 Gulf Drive North, from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Dec. 5: The Center's 25th annual Lester Family Fun Day runs 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
FDOT posts updates on the project page as work moves along, and they will show when the first traffic shift is coming.
At Sheldon, Gettel & Dahl, we keep watch on projects like the Cortez Bridge because they change how a place works every day long before anything appears on a listing sheet. If you're weighing a south-end property against the bridge timeline, or want to know how the coming phases may affect a particular street, we're glad to walk through it with you.
