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Water-Related News

Longboat Key explores dredging inlet to Beer Can Island


North Shore Road residents are organizing in support of a wider opening for the north-end lagoon.

Twenty-year Longboat Key resident Maureen Merrigan noticed something troubling during the last full moon as tides flowed out of the Beer Can Island lagoon: It looked almost landlocked.

“You could almost see the land all the way to the dock at near Lands End Drive,” said Merrigan, who lives on North Shore Road and grew up on Bradenton Beach.

Fortunately for Merrigan and the more than 25 residents she has rallied to action, the town has contracted with coastal engineering firm Taylor Engineering to study the feasibility of dredging island waterways. While the company has focused on the Key’s 60 canals, it is also planning to analyze that channel as part of a roughly $90,000 contract in the next three months.