Osprey Ave. Bridge - SB Traffic Only    After being closed for two days this week, the Osprey Bridge over the Hudson Bayou is now open to one lane of southbound traffic only.  This meets safety

A contractor begins to create a temporary cofferdam in the Hudson Bayou earlier this week.

requirements for contractors as they continue to inspect the bridge before the City moves forward with the Lift Station 87 utilities project.  The southbound only traffic pattern will be in place for the next four weeks.  Electronic message boards are in position to alert motorists, and we remain in regular contact with residents in the adjacent neighborhoods.  We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding for the next month while crews gather necessary information which will help guide the City with decisions regarding the Lift Station 87 project.

Street Resurfacing    The City's annual street resurfacing project continues to move along, with Boulevard of the Arts and portions of Lemon Ave. and 10th Street being milled and paved this week.  Weather permitting, crews are scheduled next week to resurface the John Ringling-Washington Drive intersection on St. Armands Key.  To minimize traffic impact, the work will be done at night with crews mobilizing at 11 p.m. 

Other areas scheduled to be milled and/or paved next week include:

• Boulevard of the Arts (west of U.S. 41)
• Bay Point (Orange Ave. to the west terminus)
• Gulfview Dr. (Orange Ave. to the west terminus)
• 5th Street alleys

Thank you for your patience as we mill and pave approximately nine miles of streets throughout the city.  It's a brief inconvenience for something that we believe will have a lasting impact on our quality of life in Sarasota.   

Contractors milling and paving 10th Street this week.

Lido Beach Restoration - Sand is Flowing!  As we mentioned in the Photo of the Week, the restoration project is attracting a lot of attention with residents and visitors.  Many people have never seen sand recycled onto shore in order to replenish the beach and help stabilize it. 

When the sand is flowing, it's quite a sight to see:  thousands of cubic yards of fresh sand from the New Pass shoal being pumped onto the beach via a 16-inch pipe. To see what we're talking about, check out the video above that I recorded with my cell phone last weekend.

A bulldozer moving fresh sand on Lido Beach this past Wednesday.

We're one week into the process, and it's going very well.  Over the next two months, 1.8 miles of shoreline will be replenished from the Lido Pool area to Ted Sperling Park.  Crews will work one section at a time, with each section being approximately 500-700 feet.  For public safety reasons, with heavy machinery moving around, each area will be temporarily cordoned off.  Once a section of beach is filled with beautiful, recycled sand, it will be graded and reopened to the public.  The project is scheduled to be finished by mid-March.

Sand from the New Pass shoal blasting onto Lido Beach through a 16-inch pipe.

 

Air Potato Vine Roundup - N. Tower Park     We're rounding up volunteers for another air potato vine roundup at North Water Tower Park!  The event will take place at the park on Sat., February 7th from 9 a.m. - noon.   The City is hosting the event in conjunction

Air potato vines growing in North Water Tower Park.

with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program to kick off a significant three year restoration, stormwater improvement and environmental education project at the park.

SBEP recently was awarded a $300,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency Gulf of Mexico Program for water quality improvements and invasive species removal at North Water Tower Park.  What's particularly impressive is the number of diverse groups which participated in the application process:  the Bayou Oaks Neighborhood Association, Indian Beach Sapphire Shores Neighborhood Association, North Trail Redevelopment Partnership, and the Sarasota Sky Pilots Disc Golf Club.

Our Urban Design Studio recently identified the neighborhoods around North Water Tower Park as a catalyst area which could see zoning code changes using a form-based code before other parts of the City.  Staff will be at the event to talk about form-based code and answer questions.

Two of the many volunteers who participated in the 2013 Air Potato Vine Roundup.

Air potato vines are an invasive plant, and removing them from the park is a good way to get rid of them while stimulating community interest in the park.

The last City-SBEP Air Potato Vine Roundup, in 2013, attracted over 100 participants who removed more than 2,500 pounds of air potatoes in four hours.

We'd love to see you there next month!  To register (and be counted for a catered lunch following the air potato vine roundup) click here.  To see the community fun and hard work from our previous event, check out the YouTube video below.

 

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