Interchange project moves ahead four years

Improvements to the state transportation system in Manatee County appear to be in the fast lane.

The Florida Department of Transportation has given priority to the reconstruction of the State Road 64/Interstate 75 interchange. FDOT will complete the design this summer and start construction a year later.

On March 28, FDOT Project Manager Jeff Mednick told members of the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization board that the project had been advanced.

The project includes widening and reconstructing State Road 64 between 64th Street Court East and Grand Harbour Parkway and constructing new interchange ramps. Work originally was slated for about 2021.

“Thank you for moving this up,” MPO member and Manatee County Commissioner Betsy Benac said. “This is a major entrance way for the city of Bradenton, which is expanding eastward. This is very important.”

Manatee County Commissioner and fellow MPO board member Vanessa Baugh agreed.

“These improvements are needed, and it’s going to be a much nicer and easier flow on State Road 64,” she said.

The new ramp design will eliminate the loop ramp in the northeast quadrant of the intersection and combine all northbound I-75 traffic into a single ramp. Doing so will eliminate the existing “weave” condition at the loop ramps.

“That’s a very uncomfortable movement for traffic,” said Mednick, who noted the new design will be safer and add capacity to the roadways.

FDOT will build a new, longer ramp lane for S.R. 64 traffic entering southbound I-75, giving motorists more time to get up to the speed of interstate traffic.

Mednick said the new design will be safer and add capacity to the roadways. It also will be compatible with FDOT’s long-range plan to build I-75 to a 10-lane divided highway.

No right of way is required to complete the project, which also includes the addition of 5-foot sidewalks and 7-foot buffered bicycle lanes.

Mednick said impacts to I-75 traffic should be minimal because modifications are limited to loop ramps and State Road 64.

“We’re not going to lose any lanes on State Road 64,” he added. “There will be barricades. It will be a little slower, but not much.”

FDOT has plans to improve the interchange of State Road 70 and I-75, as well. In a similar stage of development, that project will take longer because right of way must be acquired, Mednick said.