8 hours ago Share State transportation officials begin hearing from residents on an approach to take in replacing or fixing up the Longboat Pass bridge. It will take years for the Florida Department of Transportation to replace the Longboat Pass Bridge, if ever. But those long-term possibilities, outlined recently at a public forum, haven’t stopped north-end Longboat Key residents from offering their perspectives on what they’d like to see. Drayton Saunders owns the landmark property at 7300 Gulf of Mexico Drive, overlooking the drawbridge from the east. “My primary concern is about [the] right-of-way, the impact to our property and any chance it downgrades the value and kind of condition of us being a homeowner next to that bridge,” he said. No further financing or planning is in place.