Bridge too far?

Opinion is divided on Anna Maria Island, if a recent report on Bradenton.com is anything to go by.
The Florida Department of Transportation has just recommended replacing the drawbridge connecting the island to the mainland with a 65ft vertical clearance bridge that would be built south of the existing structure. The estimated cost is $102.5 million.
It says: 'Island activist groups such as Save Anna Maria have already said they will fight against the proposal tooth and nail, but feelings on the bridge by residents and business owners runs the gamut.
The idea doesn’t sit well with Allyson Gillies, who lives off Marina Drive in Holmes Beach.
“I want it to stay the way it is,” she said. “We have voted to pass all these ordinances to keep the small town feel here, and this bridge idea would defeat the purpose of all of that. So you have to sit in traffic some. It is small price to pay for what we have here.”
FDOT explored replacing the bridge with another drawbridge, as well as a 45 foot vertical clearance, but said building a fixed bridge would cost $20 to $30 million less than building a drawbridge. FDOT officials said it also costs $9 million-a-year to operate and maintain a drawbridge.
Officials with FDOT also said surveys conducted of island residents showed 83 percent favored replacing the bridge, and 77 percent favored the fixed bridge recommended by FDOT.
Holmes Beach resident Philip Gale said he is all for FDOT’s proposal, saying pulling in tourism dollars is the name of the game for the island.
“Why frustrate everybody that comes here with this traffic. The money is in the tourism so we should do everything we can to make it easy on them,” said Gale. “This place is growing and you can’t stop it.”

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