Between 14th Street and Myrtle Street, the water main work on North Tamiami Trail is nearly done. Phases 1 through 3 are reported complete, and the last segment had lane paving scheduled in August, with final restoration still to come. North of Myrtle, the city's published schedule runs the water main replacement into January 2028. A separate state-funded repaving and safety project is lined up for the same northern blocks after that. For the next couple of years, the stretch south of Myrtle is wrapping up one project, and the stretch north of it is in the middle of a second one, with a third still to come.
The city began this $30 million, seven-phase project on Sept. 15, 2025. It replaces aging water main under US 41 from 14th Street north to University Parkway, and the city's original estimate had every phase finished in early 2028. The first phases went quickly. By January the city reported that all travel lanes had reopened before the holidays as those initial phases wrapped up.
Where each stretch stands as September ends
The clearest snapshot comes from the August utilities update posted by the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations, along with the milling schedule on the city's project website.
| Stretch | Phase | Status in the most recent updates |
|---|---|---|
| N. Trail from 14th St to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, plus 16th St from N. Trail to Cocoanut Ave | 1, 2 and 3 | Completed. Milling schedule listed through March 9, 2026 |
| N. Trail from just north of MLK Way to just south of Myrtle St | 4 | Lane paving set for Aug. 3 and 4, with final restoration after. Milling schedule listed through Aug. 28, 2026 |
| N. Trail from Myrtle St to 47th St, and 47th St from N. Trail to Rilma Ave | 5 and 7 | Certification of the new water main was still underway in August |
| N. Trail from 47th St north toward Beverly and University Parkway | 6 | Active lane closures this week. Phases 6 and 7 milling listed through Jan. 3, 2028 |
The table turns Myrtle Street into a dividing line. To the south, the remaining work is final restoration. To the north, the project website gives Phases 6 and 7 a milling completion date more than two years past the date the first phase started.
Comptoir is opening on the repaved side
On Indian Beach Plaza's block, the timing works in a new tenant's favor. French-born chef Gregory Desvenain and co-owner Cemantha Crain plan to open Comptoir: The Counter Café by Oct. 5 at 2805 N. Tamiami Trail, across from Ringling College of Art and Design. The café takes over the former Shelf Indulgence Used Book Café space, and the owners plan daily hours from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. That address sits in the MLK-to-Myrtle stretch, where the city scheduled lane paving in early August.
Sarasota Magazine reports that Comptoir is built on the French "point chaud" model, meaning an easygoing all-day stop for coffee, bread, pastries and quick meals. Desvenain told the magazine that Ringling College and nearby Bay Haven School shaped the concept, and most dishes will cost less than $20. Here's what's planned:
- Kouign-amann, a buttery laminated pastry, in a classic version and one filled with caramelized apples
- Le Petit Vendôme, ham, Normandy butter and cornichons on a soft baguette, served with salad or house soup for about $15
- Croque monsieur and pains au chocolat, plus crêpes, quiches, soups and salads
- Take-home dinners such as duck confit, blanquette de veau and beef Burgundy, with the beef Burgundy and fresh pasta from a local pasta maker feeding two for about $22 to $24
- A small rotating wine list from France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, with bottles for the table or to take home
Desvenain grew up in Provence and moved to Sarasota in 2010. Here he founded Wines of Provence, an importing and distribution company he closed when the pandemic cost it many of its contracts. He later helped build out the Lakewood Ranch location of C'est La Vie, the downtown café. The former bookstore now holds about 24 seats inside, including an eight-seat chef's table in the front window, and about 20 more seats are planned outdoors. A framed French flag from 1903 is the room's centerpiece.
The owners plan a soft launch and will hold off on social media until the kitchen is turning out its own food.
"Let's have a good experience in real life first, and then we'll start documenting it and broadcasting it."
Cemantha Crain, co-owner, to Sarasota Magazine
Comptoir is planning a 7:30 a.m. opening on a block where the city scheduled lane paving two months earlier. That matters because the morning trade is what another North Trail café said it lost during construction.
What the lane closures cost one North Trail café
In February, WFLA talked with Andrea Ronchini, who opened RONC, a bagel, donut and sandwich café on North Tamiami Trail, about three and a half years earlier. Ronchini said that location had been growing about 40% year over year before the utility work began, and business went well enough that he opened a second location on Lockwood Ridge Road.
"After the construction started, this store lost 60% of the business. I cannot afford it. Everybody is avoiding 41. They are taking other ways to go to work so there is no more traffic. My regular customers, they just disappeared, so my rush time that is 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. is gone."
Andrea Ronchini, to WFLA, February 2026
The city responded by putting up signs along US 41 saying businesses were open, and a city spokesperson encouraged people to shop at businesses in the construction zone. Ronchini told the station his café does deliveries, website orders and catering. RONC's online ordering page for its North Trail store at 3141 N. Tamiami Trail still shows a menu, hours, carryout and delivery.
Ronchini's comments describe what happens to traffic during the work. Drivers take other routes, and a café that depends on the morning commute loses it. That effect has now moved north along the corridor.
North of Myrtle, two projects share the same blocks
The city's project website shows this week's work at the corridor's north end. An outside-lane closure from Beverly Boulevard to just north of University Parkway was scheduled from Sept. 23 through asphalt work on Sept. 29. An inside-lane closure on the same stretch started Sept. 29, with asphalt work through Oct. 2. The Sarasota-Manatee MPO's traffic notice for the week of Sept. 20 also lists intermittent inside and outside lane closures from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. along US 41 between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Bayshore Road. The Ringling Plaza intersection closures and detours ran from Sept. 23 through Sept. 28.
The second project comes after the water main work. On May 18, the Sarasota City Commission approved an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation for a resurfacing and safety project on US 41 from Myrtle Street to General Spaatz Boulevard at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. That's about 1.24 miles, and FDOT is contributing $5.25 million. The work includes milling and resurfacing, plus changes at University Parkway: widening, pedestrian signage, high-emphasis pavement markings, new pedestrian signals and updated signal timing. FDOT and the Sarasota-Manatee MPO are paying for all of it, so no city money is involved.
On paper, the dates for the north end line up like this:
- Through Oct. 2, 2026. Inside-lane closure and asphalt work from Beverly Boulevard to just north of University Parkway.
- Oct. 5 to 15, 2026. Nighttime closures of University Parkway's eastbound outside lane and the southbound North Tamiami Trail left-turn lane onto eastbound University Parkway.
- Late summer or early fall 2027. City Public Works' May estimate for when FDOT resurfacing construction would begin. The plan was to put final asphalt down after the utility work was substantially complete.
- Fiscal year 2027/2028. The year the formal agreement assigns to the resurfacing work.
- Jan. 3, 2028. The milling completion date the water main project website lists for Phases 6 and 7.
- June 30, 2029. The agreement's deadline for the city to finish the FDOT project.
Items three and five don't quite fit together. The May estimate has resurfacing starting in 2027, but the city's September project page still runs water main milling into January 2028. Read these as estimates, not a fixed sequence. The University Parkway intersection appears in both projects. This fall it's getting temporary asphalt and overnight lane closures for the water main. Later it's scheduled for widening and new pedestrian signals under the FDOT agreement.
For anyone who commutes to the airport, crosses at University Parkway or picks up coffee north of Myrtle, the corridor's long run of lane closures isn't over yet. It has moved north and has a second project waiting behind it. The latest published deadline for that second project is June 30, 2029.
If you own a home along the North Trail or are thinking about one, the construction calendar is one of the details I go over with clients block by block, along with how long a given stretch has until its work is done. Susan Phelps has watched this corridor change for more than 40 years. I'm glad to talk through what these schedules mean for a specific street whenever it's useful to you.
