County preps for sidewalk repairs

The barricades along nearly a mile-long stretch of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard won’t be going away any time soon.

The Manatee County Public Works Department has identified sections of sidewalk that need repair south of State Road 70 to about Clubhouse Drive, on both sides of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. The county has marked sidewalk segments with paint to denote trip hazards and placed barricades to prevent the public from tripping.

Work is not expected to be finished until the end of September.

Danny Smith, the public works field maintenance division manager, said the timeline is standard. It takes about 90 days from discovery to completion, on average.

“We’re trying to make everything safe for the public,” he said. “With our current workload versus our workforce, that’s the amount of time it takes.”

Lakewood Ranch CDD 1 supervisors are concerned about the timeline, but are glad it’s earlier than original estimates of October. Supervisor June Stroup noted the public should be careful when using the sidewalk, and should leave barricades in place.

Manatee County is doing similar work on Tara Boulevard. Barricades there went up in May and should be finished in the September timeframe as well. Contractors will complete that work first and then shift their focus to Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Smith said.

In Tara, the county will spend about $20,000 to repair 3,700 square feet of sidewalk. In Lakewood Ranch, the county will spend $35,000 to repair more than 5,500 square feet of sidewalk.

In both instances, the repairs are dictated primarily by the growth of trees adjacent to the sidewalk.

“Those tree roots cause the sidewalk to lift,” Smith said. “That’s what’s happening. Our work there is to remove those trip hazards. I have staff every day doing this. It’s a pretty common task for us.”

The sidewalks, although located within Community Development District boundaries, are part of the right-of-way for Manatee County for Tara and Lakewood Ranch boulevards. On Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, sidewalks have lifted more than two inches in some places due to the roots.

“It’s pretty bad,” Lakewood Ranch Town Hall Operations Director Paul Chetlain said. “It’s needed attention for some time now.”

Manatee County defines a sidewalk segment as a hazard if it lifts more than one-quarter inch.