This Fall, Anna Maria Island's South End Got the Boat and the North End Got the Pier

For the next three years or so, the easiest way onto Anna Maria Island starts at its south end and runs over water. In September a new ferry stop opened across from Coquina Beach, work began on the Cortez Bridge, and the City Pier at the north tip moved into its last phase of repairs. These three changes arrived within weeks of each other. They help different ends of the island, and they run on very different timelines.

The south end now has two boat landings

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, the Gulf Islands Ferry made its first official run to the Bayside South Boat Ramp, across the street from Coquina Beach. The Downtown Duchess, one of the fleet's open-air pontoon boats, now shuttles between the Historic Bridge Street Pier and the new stop. The run takes less than 15 minutes.

Until September the route had two stops, downtown Bradenton and Bridge Street. The larger leg uses the Manatee Belle, which joined the fleet earlier this year. It carries 91 passengers and has air-conditioned indoor seating, a public restroom and an open deck at the stern. The pontoon boats placed in service in 2024 carry up to 48. The Bradenton Riverwalk Pier to Bridge Street run took about 50 minutes on the inaugural trip.

Those 50 minutes compare well with the drive. Alisa Begley, who rode with her friend Stephanie Banfill on that first Coquina trip, told the AMI Sun about the first week they tried the outing by car. "After about an hour and 10 minutes we were driving over the bridge slowly," she said. "Now, the ability to spend an hour on a boat with the possibility of seeing dolphins instead of an hour driving was great." The two now make the trip weekly. They have lunch, then spend an hour or two walking the beach.

The ridership numbers back up her experience. Keenan Singleton of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said more than 55,000 passengers rode the ferries in 2025. He estimated that kept about 23,000 cars off the road to and from the island. Fares and tourist development tax revenue pay for the service. Property taxes do not.

Riders 80 and older and children 4 and under ride free. You can bring beach chairs, coolers and other gear, but bicycles and pets are not allowed. The Coquina stop has a wheelchair lift. Weather permitting, boats run Wednesday through Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Full schedules and tickets are on the Gulf Islands Ferry page.

District 3 County Commissioner Tal Siddique said in the county's announcement that the extra stop should "positively impact the roadways running the seven miles of paradise on Anna Maria Island."

Coquina is also a work zone this fall

The new stop opened while sand work was underway at Coquina. Renourishment crews started Sept. 9 and fenced off a staging area and nearby access points at the south end. The rest of the beach, the boat ramp and the ferry stop were set to stay open. The first phase was expected to wrap up by the end of October, with a larger nourishment project expected in November.

The Cortez Bridge clock has started

The ferry matters more because of what is happening a short distance north of the Bridge Street Pier. The Florida Department of Transportation lists its $123 million Cortez Bridge replacement as being in construction. The project covers about 0.9 mile of State Road 684, from Gulf Drive to 123rd Street West. A fixed span with 65 feet of clearance will replace the 1956 drawbridge.

The crossing stays open the whole time, but the work zone will be there for a long while. FDOT expects construction to take about 1,200 days, in two phases:

1. Phase 1, traffic shift by the end of 2026. Traffic moves slightly south at both approaches. Crews then build the north half of the new bridge next to the old one, along with utility relocations and the new Hunters Point Way connection on the mainland side.
2. Phase 2, traffic shift in mid-2028. Traffic moves onto the finished north half. The old drawbridge is demolished and the second half is built, with barges and temporary trestles in both phases.

WWSB described the full build as a four-year effort. Neither FDOT nor local coverage has published a firm completion year, a named contractor or a dated lane-closure calendar so far. Take any end date you hear as an estimate.

Manatee County's utility relocation under Cortez Road is the prep work. As of the Sept. 15 update, the pipe beneath the Intracoastal Waterway was installed and the road was open again. That project is expected to finish in late fall 2026, before FDOT's bridge work ramps up. Until then, the county says to expect lane shifts, flagging, and temporary sidewalk and bike lane closures, with crews working seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

On the Cortez side, the former Seafood Shack property is a contractor staging area. The goal of all this is to end the drawbridge backups. Scott Pollard, who works at the Cortez Fish Market, told WWSB that in peak season, "I've sat there for 10 minutes solid when I could have just walked from my house and made it here in that amount of time." When finished, the new span will clear boats without opening and will have wider shoulders for people on foot and on bikes.

The Anna Maria Island Bridge on Manatee Avenue comes next. FDOT lists that replacement in design, with bidding scheduled for July 26, 2028. That lines up with roughly when the Cortez project expects its Phase 2 traffic shift. For now, the county's new Manatee Avenue water main is in service. Crews still have sidewalk and sod work to do and are removing the old pipe in stages, so brief lane closures are possible.

The north end gets its pier back, without the boat

At the island's north tip, the Anna Maria City Pier is close to reopening. The walkway Hurricane Milton destroyed has been rebuilt. On Sept. 8 the city commission authorized Mayor Mark Short to sign a $436,192 contract with Sarasota-based Southern Cross Contracting for the remaining T-end work. That includes new public restrooms and roll-up doors backed by hurricane-rated shutters.

Those doors will open onto shared open-air seating for PIERadise, the new dining, drinks and fishing spot run by GSM Partners. The partners are Brian Seymour of City Pier Grill and the Anna Maria General Store, Ben Sato of gRub Tropical BBQ, and Jason Sato. Under a five-year lease signed in June, PIERadise takes the larger building that Mote Marine used to occupy. The smaller former City Pier Grill building becomes the kitchen and bait shop. The city expects the pier and PIERadise to be fully open before the end of the year. At the Sept. 8 meeting, Seymour said the team hopes to open in November.

The ferry is a different story. The same open-air seating is planned to serve Gulf Islands Ferry passengers "if and when" service returns to the City Pier. Ferry service there stopped in October 2024. On Sept. 1 the AMI Sun said it could come back in 2027 or 2028, once a county-funded landing is installed. A week later, the paper's fuller report said not until 2028.

That leaves a gap of roughly two years. During that time the south end has two ferry landings, and the north end has a reopened pier and restaurant but no boat. The free island trolley links them. Manatee County's Route 5 runs between the City Pier and Coquina Beach every 20 minutes, 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., every day of the year. For a boat trip from downtown Bradenton to Pine Avenue, you would take the Manatee Belle to Bridge Street and then the trolley north. The ferry runs Wednesday through Sunday. The trolley runs every day.

Dates on both ends this fall

• Through Nov. 1: The "Bone Yard" skeleton displays line Bridge Street, a few steps from the ferry landing. The Halloween Spooktacular is Saturday, Oct. 31.
• Oct. 17: The 25th Annual BayFest fills Pine Avenue from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Oct. 30: The Center hosts its free Island Trunk or Treat, 6 to 8 p.m.
• November: PIERadise's target opening, plus the larger Coquina nourishment project.
• Nov. 21: AMI South End's Sundown Get Down Christmas Tree Lighting, 2 to 8 p.m.
• By Dec. 31: The Cortez Bridge Phase 1 traffic shift and a fully open City Pier, if both stay on schedule.

Parking is also on the table, but nothing has been decided. An August study for the City of Anna Maria proposed up to 1,119 paid spaces at a suggested $4.50 an hour, with free permits for residents and a possible March rollout if approved. Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth has said her city mapped out a possible paid-parking plan for a joint rollout with Anna Maria. As of this writing, neither city has adopted a plan.

If you own on the island, the next few years of bridge phases, ferry dates and pier reopenings may affect when you visit, rent or sell. Mark and Sheryl at The VanDuren Group can walk you through how these timelines fit your plans. Request your white-glove consultation.