Treasure Island, St. Petersburg, agree on causeway plan

TREASURE ISLAND — The City Commission is expected to approve an agreement with the city of St. Petersburg on Tuesday to reconstruct the East Causeway roadway, including a new bike trail, beginning next year.

Informal approval of the agreement was given during a workshop session last week.

The causeway is owned by Treasure Island but is within St. Petersburg city limits. It extends from Sunset Drive in St. Petersburg to the base of the bascule bridge connecting Treasure Island to the mainland.

The nearly $2 million project will be managed and built by St. Petersburg, which has already approved the agreement, according to city officials.

Construction is scheduled to begin in August 2019 and be finished by May 2020. Design plans for the project are more than half completed.

The project does not address whether Treasure Island will reinstitute a toll for vehicles crossing the bridge, nor does it address how the city’s ongoing costs for maintaining that bridge will be financed.

Previously, city officials indicated that without a toll, the city would have to raise property taxes to cover millions of dollars in future maintenance costs.