Longboat Key leaders leery of roundabout at U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue

When it comes to a proposed roundabout for the intersection of Gulfstream Avenue and U.S. 41, Town Manager Dave Bullock is worried about “appropriate gaps” for traffic leaving the barrier islands.

“I’m concerned that the underlying data presents a highly optimistic setting, versus one that some of us experience year after year after year,” Bullock told presenters of potential plans for the intersection.

Florida Department of Transportation representative Joshua Jester, as well as Kimley-Horn consultants Michael Garau and Gary Nadeau, presented the Town Commission with two options for the intersection on Monday.

One option involves increasing the number of left turn lanes for northbound traffic on U.S. 41 to connect with westbound traffic on Gulfstream Avenue. The alternative is adding a two-lane roundabout.

Bullock, who acknowledged he’s not an expert in the field, is not convinced a roundabout at the intersection will improve the flow of traffic, especially when a high volume of traffic is moving southbound on U.S. 41., potentially preventing those traveling eastbound on Gulfstream to enter the roundabout.

The town manager urged FDOT to have someone with the proper technical skill review the underlying data.

“The one thing we don’t want from this intersection is that it operate worse than it does today,” Bullock said.

According to FDOT’s traffic projections for 2040, the roundabout concept will improve the flow of traffic by 72% more than the increased-lane concept during peak morning traffic, and 14% more during afternoon peak traffic.

Traffic counts for the project were collected in season: November 2014, January 2015, February 2017 and March.

Like Bullock, Commissioner Jim Brown was skeptical of the roundabout concept.

“I challenge you to come to Longboat Key any day,” Brown told the presenters. “Park yourselves somewhere near an intersection and look at what a gap is for people on Longboat Key, with an average age of 73.4 years.”

Brown knows firsthand what it can be like sitting behind Key drivers at intersections, noting that “some people will sit and wait until they get a printed invitation” to make a turn.

“If that happens at the intersection that we’re talking about, then we have a problem,” Brown said.

Elsewhere in Sarasota, roundabouts are in various phases of planning at 14th Street, 10th Street and Fruitville Road, as well as where U.S. 41 intersects with Main Street and Ringling Boulevard.

The presenters said they hope to finalize a plan for the U.S. 41 and Gulfstream intersection by December, adding that construction of the roundabout could take about a year.

Bullock requested the presenters identify a roundabout already in operation that handles a similar volume of traffic as is expected to flow through the one proposed for U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue.

Bullock said town staff would benefit from corresponding with that roundabout’s surrounding communities regarding how it is working. 

Nadeau assured Bullock his firm could provide the town with a list of such roundabouts.

“We’d hate to be the guinea pig and find out we should have done something different,” Bullock said.