On Casey Key, This Winter Runs on the County's Calendar

"At this stage, no final decision about the bridge has been made." That was Sarasota County's answer when The Sarasota News Leader asked about the Blackburn Point Bridge in mid-October. The same answer fits most of Casey Key this season.

The north entrance, the North Key stretch of road, the Nokomis Beach lot and the North Jetty snack window are all in the middle of public processes, and every one has a date attached. Those dates fall within roughly twelve months of each other. If you live on the key, the most useful thing to have this winter is a calendar. Here it is, north to south, with each date linked to the next.

December Is When the Bridge Question Reaches the Commission

The Blackburn Point Bridge is the single-lane swing bridge that carries Blackburn Point Road over the Intracoastal Waterway in Osprey. It's listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Sarasota County Local Register. It's a Warren pony truss swing structure that was originally opened with a hand crank, and it's the last bridge left from the county's first round of infrastructure building during the 1920s land boom.

The county's Oct. 13 statement to the News Leader lists three paths:

• No-build: keep the existing single-lane bridge and make the repairs needed to keep it operating and structurally sound.
• Swing span replacement: a new movable bridge that swings open, like the current one.
• Bascule span replacement: a drawbridge.

According to that statement, the county has held three public meetings on the study, the most recent on June 11, 2026, and the topic is "tentatively scheduled" for County Commission discussion in December 2026. In June, Bay News 9 reported a November target and an estimate of $31 million to renovate the existing bridge, which would buy about ten more years of service. December is the later and current timing.

The money tells you how early in the process this still is. The county's Capital Improvements update, taken up at the Sept. 23 budget hearing, shows $3.7 million appropriated to date for the "Blackburn Point Road Movable Bridge" and no new appropriation through fiscal year 2031. That's study and design money. A December discussion is the next step in that study. Nobody should expect construction crews this winter.

Public comment has also grown. The News Leader reported that at the Sept. 23 hearing, all but two of the speakers addressed the bridge. Nine days before that, the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation released a technical review it had sought from Bach Ornamental & Structural Steel, a Michigan firm that specializes in restoring historic bridges, which argued that rehabilitation is viable. The release said Bach had not yet evaluated the bridge on site and that a visit was planned. The Alliance had put the bridge on its 2025 "Six to Save" list.

The county's study materials are posted at blackburnbridgeproject.com. Check there for the December agenda date once it's set.

Just South of the Bridge, the North Key Road Is Being Rebuilt on a Spring 2027 Clock

If you drive south from Blackburn Point, the next long-running county project is in the 500 to 800 block of North Casey Key Road. Sarasota County's project sheet, last updated October 2026, says the road there is being rebuilt to repair damage from ongoing erosion and from Hurricanes Debby and Helene. Added shoreline protection will reinforce both the road and the shoreline.

As of that October update, the work looks like this:

1. Temporary wall: built.
2. North end: the road has been moved west temporarily so crews can build the permanent road.
3. South end: reconstruction is close to done. Water-access stairs from the road and the final layer of asphalt are still to come.
4. Completion: scheduled for Spring 2027.

The contractor is de Moya CHC Joint Venture LP, on a construction contract of $44,590,755.48. Hardesty and Hanover is the design consultant. Permanent work began in late summer 2025. When Your Observer covered the project in October 2025, it gave a March 2027 completion. The county now says Spring 2027, which still covers March. The same county sheet also lists "Design Finish" as Summer 2027, later than the construction finish, and doesn't explain the difference.

For the season ahead, that means the North Key will still be an active work zone through the winter. The road will be in a temporary position on the north end, and the stairs and final paving on the south segment will be among the last visible steps. The county's only current instruction to drivers is to use caution in the work zone.

The Same Project Shapes the South End at Nokomis Beach

The road rebuild is on the North Key, but its staging area is miles south, at the Albee Road end. Starting April 28, 2025, Sarasota County closed parts of the Nokomis Beach parking lot south of the playground on what its notice calls a "long-term" basis, so crews could use them for construction staging. The same county notice closed the 200 block of South Casey Key Road to the public and said that closure is expected to last through Fall 2027. That notice is from April 2025, and it still carries the county's latest published dates for this end of the project.

That timeline links the two ends of the key. The North Key road is scheduled to finish around Spring 2027. The road closure that supports the work at Nokomis was forecast to run until Fall 2027, which suggests the staging setup at this end may stay in place for a while after the road itself is done.

Your Observer's October 2025 report described the effects at the time. With less parking at Nokomis Beach, some beachgoers parked across the Albee Road bridge, and Pelican Alley's owner told the paper that beach visitors were using the restaurant's lot, leaving less overflow parking for its customers and staff. That was a year ago. The county hasn't published any change to the staging footprint since.

The park itself is open. Sarasota County lists Nokomis Beach hours as 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with lifeguards, a concession, a playground, restrooms, volleyball, a fishing pier and a boat ramp. The Nokomis Beach Drum Circle, which Visit Sarasota says meets every Sunday evening year-round starting about an hour before sunset, is the weekly event that brings the biggest evening crowd to this end of the key. County parking at its beaches is free and first-come, first-served. With the lot smaller, a Sunday sunset visit is easier for anyone who can walk or bike over the Albee Road bridge.

Across the Inlet, North Jetty's Concession Is Out for Bid

The last date on the calendar is at North Jetty Park, across Venice Inlet from the south tip of the key. Shark Tooth runs both county beach concessions on this stretch, Shark Tooth Beach Concessions at Nokomis Beach and North Jetty Grille at North Jetty. Shark Tooth's posted hours are:

Sarasota County is now running a procurement for North Jetty Park Concession Services, solicitation 262898MM. A second evaluation meeting was held Oct. 19, 2026, at the County Administration Center at 1 Apex Road. North Jetty Grille's current hours are the ones to plan around for now, and the county's award decision is the next date to watch at that end of the inlet.

North Jetty itself has had a long recovery. The county lists it as open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. with beach access, a concession, lifeguards, picnic shelters, a playground and restrooms. WWSB reported its partial reopening on March 1, 2025, with the north and east lots open. Lot-by-lot access may have changed since then.

The Winter Calendar, in Order

These are the county dates, plus the Venice holiday events that bring traffic onto the mainland roads Casey Key residents use:

The Venice Holiday Parade page has the full closure map. The rest of the season's listings are on Visit Venice.

For the longer history of how the bridge and county land-use rules have shaped the key, see our earlier post on why Casey Key's real ceiling is a date. For a different season on the island, there's Casey Key in August.

Ryan Miller grew up in Sarasota and follows these county timelines closely, because the bridge decision and the road's finish date affect how Casey Key homes are shown, priced and reached. If you'd like an update when the Blackburn Point Bridge goes before the commission in December, or want to know how this winter's work affects your property's value, get your free home valuation or join the newsletter.