Manatee County FL negotiating Ft Hamer toll bridge with developers

Nothing stimulates local self-help like a "No, sorry, we can't help" from on high. After Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) recently told Manatee County on the west coast that it can't build the Fort Hamer Bridge the county commissioners only took days to decide to go it alone. A decade of lobbying for FDOT and the feds to fund a bridge had gone nowhere. The state Turnpike was the last hope of help from higher levels of government.

Robert Fox of FTE reportedly told the county recently Enterprise is not in a  position to take on any new projects. In addition he said FTE was concerned that estimates of potential tolls were based on overoptimistic assumptions.

The seven member county commission voted this week by six to one to negotiate construction of the toll bridge to be financed and built by a pair of local developers. The one vote against was Joe McClash a commissioner who wanted to go out with a public request for proposals for a developer/concessionaire.

Manatee County commissioners voted to negotiate with FHB Associates, a company run by local developers Pat Neal and Carlos Beruff who have - local reports say - expressed a strong interest in taking on the project as a private enterprise toll project. They say they'd charge a $2.00 toll.

The Ft Hamer Bridge is about 11km (7 miles) east of the I-75 bridge over the Manatee River and about 8km (5 miles) west of the next bridge upriver at Rye Rd. The bridge is shown on 2030 county plans as 4 lanes, at which time I-75 is due to be 10 lanes and the Rye Rd bridge 6 lanes. The route is classified as a surface arterial.

A local report says the bridge has been estimated by URS as costing $127m but quotes the developers as saying they can build it for considerably less. The bridge will provide 4 travel lanes, so it will need to be about 22.5m (74ft) wide providing shoulders and offset for a median barrier.  The river is about 100m (330ft) wide according to our measurement off satellite pictures, so a main span avoiding piers in the river would need to be around 115m (377ft) plus smaller spans over the flood plan on either side.

Land still needs to be acquired on the approaches and environmental clearance obtained.

BACKGROUND: Manatee County FL with its seat of local government in Bradenton has a population of about 312k. Planning is based on growth to 451k in 2030 and 495k in 2035. The county is something of the southern fringe of the greater Tampa metro area.  The ten county area currently has about 3.6m people. Planning is based on a 50% increase over 30 years to 5.3m in 2030.

A possible West Central Florida Outer Beltway would be quite far to the east in neighboring Hardee County.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-10-26