Progress on roads

All in all: Whew! The 2017 winter season traffic was not as bad as it was in 2016. As Longboat Key Mayor Terry Gans told us recently: 

“We had a bit of a breather this year.”

After that horrible 2016 season, Longboaters went into this past winter with dread, expecting another maddening season of daily backups stretching from each end of the Key and meeting in the middle — with no one doing a thing about them. 

But suffering through 2016 had its salutary effects. It mobilized Longboat Key citizens and the Town Commission and administration — in particular, Tom Freiwald and Lenny Landau of the Longboat Key Revitalization Task Force and Mayor Gans and Town Manager David Bullock. They went on the offense, nearly relentlessly to spark action from the Florida Department of Transportation.

And it worked. Special recognition to Freiwald and Landau; they’re proof that, as frustrating as it may be, with persistence you can make government responsive.

In fact, we’ll agree with Mayor Gans’ assessment:

“I’m pleased, even though we don’t see additional lanes and bridges,” Gans told us last week. “FDOT is paying attention and doing more than lip service. I think we made progress.”

But the mayor also adds this pragmatic assessment: “Sincerity is measured by what they do.”

As everyone knows, FDOT operates in years, not days, weeks or months. Gans said he is hoping FDOT will complete the addition of a continuous right-turn lane on northbound U.S. 41 at Fruitville Road over the summer.

But when you examine FDOT’s project lists online, they say the expected completion dates for two studies — one for the Gulfstream-U.S. 41 intersection and one for the Fruitville-U.S. 41 intersection — won’t be until December and January, respectively. Those are just the studies, not the actual road work.

Meantime, at one of the main choke points for the north end of the Key — the intersection of 119th Street West on Cortez Road in Bradenton — FDOT officials told a crowd of about 100 residents last week changes to that intersection likely wouldn’t begin until 2019.

At the same time, Gans was not all that sanguine about the city of Sarasota’s commitment to being a regional player in transportation. Unfortunately, the city hasn’t made a final decision on the idea to narrow Fruitville Road to two lanes between Central and Orange avenues. Thankfully, though, Gans said, “They don’t have the money to do it.” 

What’s next? Said Gans: “We won’t drop the ball. We have to keep on them.”

Don’t let up.