Five o'clock on Cortez Road, and the drawbridge is climbing again. Brake lights stack up past the old Star Fish Company docks, a string of masts glides through the gap, and the whole line of cars idling toward Bridge Street Pier settles in to wait it out. It's a scene anyone who lives on this end of the island already knows by feel, not by schedule. What's different this September is that somewhere just north of that same bridge, crews have quietly started building its replacement.
If you've seen the headlines about the new Cortez Bridge breaking ground, you might be bracing for detours, lane closures, or months of gridlock. That's not what's happening yet, and knowing why matters more than the announcement itself.
What "Construction Started" Actually Means This Month
Phase 1 of the Cortez Bridge replacement began in September, but it doesn't touch the bridge you drive over. Crews are building the northern portion of the new 65-foot fixed-span bridge right alongside the existing 1956 drawbridge, while also constructing Hunter's Point Way, a new connector road linking 127th Street West to Cortez Road on the mainland side. Traffic on Cortez Road itself will shift a few feet to the south at both approaches so crews have room to work on the north side, but the Florida Department of Transportation has been clear that the current bridge stays open to vehicles throughout this phase. No closures. No detours around a shuttered span. Just a slightly narrower lane and construction noise for anyone driving past.
That's a meaningfully different reality than the one small business owners in Cortez Village have been quietly preparing for.
"You know, it's going to affect business. People just won't be able to get here."
That's James Gowett, who has worked at the Star Fish Company for 25 years, describing what he expects once construction ramps up. His concern isn't unfounded. Traffic on Cortez Road already gets tight during peak season, and any construction activity near a working fishing village raises the stakes for the people whose businesses depend on customers being able to pull in and park. But the timeline suggests the disruption he's worried about is still ahead, not already here.
Two Phases, Two Very Different Bridges
The project unfolds in two major stages, and they carry very different consequences for your daily routine.
| Phase | Timeframe | What Changes For You |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 (underway now) | September 2026 into late 2026 | Traffic shifts slightly south on Cortez Road while the northern half of the new bridge and Hunter's Point Way are built. No closures, no detours. |
| First major traffic shift | End of 2026 (FDOT estimate) | Vehicles move onto the completed northern half of the new bridge. The old drawbridge is still standing beside it. |
| Phase 2 | 2027 into 2028 | The 1956 drawbridge comes down. The remaining half of the new span is built next to the completed northern portion. |
| Second major traffic shift | Mid-2028 (FDOT estimate) | The full 65-foot fixed span opens. Drawbridge openings on this crossing end for good. |
The whole project is expected to run about 1,200 days, which works out to roughly three years and four months from this month's groundbreaking. That puts full completion sometime in late 2029 or early 2030. The part locals are actually going to notice, the demolition and the second traffic shift, doesn't arrive until 2027 and 2028. This year's work is mostly happening on the shoulder of the road you already drive, not in the middle of it.
The Real Reason Cortez Road Backs Up, and Why It's About to Stop
Here's the detail that changes how you should think about this project. The traffic that frustrates people on Cortez Road right now has almost nothing to do with construction. It's the drawbridge itself.
The existing span has a vertical clearance of about 22 feet, which sounds like plenty until you remember how many sailboats and taller vessels use the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that runs beneath it. At that clearance, only around a third of boat traffic can pass underneath without the bridge needing to open. Every time it does, vehicle traffic on both sides stops cold, sometimes for several minutes, right as the afternoon rush is trying to move through Cortez Village toward Bradenton Beach.
The new bridge changes that math entirely. At 65 feet of fixed clearance, an estimated 98 percent of boat traffic will pass underneath without the bridge needing to move at all, because there won't be anything left to move. No leaves to lift, no waiting for the span to lower back down, no bottleneck timed to boat schedules instead of car schedules. That's the actual fix this project is building toward. The construction happening this month is just the visible beginning of getting there.
It's worth sitting with that contrast for a second. The bridge causing your delays today isn't under construction yet. The bridge under construction today isn't the one causing your delays. Those are two different structures occupying the same stretch of road, and untangling which one is which is the difference between panicking about this fall and just planning around it.
Three Ways On and Off the Island, and a Fourth in the Works
Anna Maria Island has never depended on a single crossing, and that's worth remembering as this project moves through its multi-year timeline. Cortez Road (State Road 684) is one of three existing vehicle routes connecting the island to the mainland and to Longboat Key:
- Cortez Road (SR 684), the corridor under construction, connecting Cortez to Bradenton Beach at the south end of the island.
- Manatee Avenue (SR 64), crossing via the Anna Maria Island Bridge into Holmes Beach, a route that already carries a much higher fixed clearance and isn't affected by this project.
- Longboat Pass Bridge, connecting the island's south end near Coquina Beach to Longboat Key, useful if you're coming from the south rather than through Bradenton.
On top of those three, Manatee County is adding a fourth option specifically to ease pressure during construction: a third route on the Gulf Islands Ferry, giving residents and visitors a way to skip the road crossing entirely for certain trips. It won't replace a car commute for most people, but it's a real, county-backed alternative that didn't exist before this project started, and it's worth knowing about before the second traffic shift in 2028 actually changes driving patterns in a way you'll notice.
What It Means for Your Next Trip to Cortez Village
If your routine includes a stop at Star Fish Company for the catch of the day, a walk out on Bridge Street Pier, or dinner at one of the waterfront spots overlooking the pass, nothing about that trip changes this month. The pier itself carries its own quiet history worth knowing: it's built on what remains of the original 1921 Cortez swing bridge, half of which was removed when the crossing closed in 1976, leaving the Bradenton Beach side to become the fishing and dining spot it is today. The new bridge under construction now is actually the third crossing to occupy this stretch of water in just over a century.
The businesses in Cortez Village are watching this project closely because they've lived through what construction can do to foot traffic and drive-up customers. FDOT has said it plans to coordinate with local businesses to keep access open throughout the work, and Phase 1's design, keeping the existing bridge fully operational while building beside it, backs that up. The harder test comes later, once demolition starts and the second traffic shift approaches. For now, the smartest move is simply to keep showing up the way you always have, because right now, that's still exactly how it works.
The Cortez Bridge has connected this stretch of coastline for over 70 years in its current form, and its replacement will likely stand for decades after that. What's happening this month is the first small piece of a much longer story, not the disruptive chapter itself. Knowing the difference is what lets you keep your Tuesday afternoon plans instead of rearranging them around a headline.
For more on what's changing across Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, and the rest of the barrier islands we call home, Luxury Coastal Living Group keeps a close eye on the local stories that actually affect daily life here, not just the ones that make headlines. If you're ever curious how a project like this factors into property values or long-term plans on the island, we're always glad to talk it through.