Is road construction headed the wrong way at Waterlefe?

As Waterlefe resident Ken Bumgarner and engineer Rick Schappacher stood in the median of Waterlefe’s public entrance, a gold SUV with a Pennsylvania tag slowly rolled northbound on Upper Manatee River Road.

Its tail lights kept blinking as the vehicle’s driver faced oncoming traffic and tapped her brakes in panic.

The driver was going north — the wrong way down a one-lane road. She had driven past detour signs and traveled two-tenths of a mile into oncoming traffic. With the detour, Upper Manatee River Road is closed northbound from Third Avenue Northeast to Gates Creek Road.

Bumgarner trotted from his spot on the sidewalk to help redirect the confused woman.

To Bumgarner, the instance epitomized a serious problem. Two months after a detour was implemented on Upper Manatee River Road, drivers remain confused.

Bumgarner and Schappacher said the original detour plan for the area would have worked if barricades and signage wouldn’t have created a maze. The original detour plan only lasted a day before the county, in an effort to make the corridor safer, forced all northbound traffic, even those headed into Waterlefe, to exit at Third Avenue Northeast before coming back to the main entrance.

The plan should have wiped out the chance drivers would be headed the wrong way, but it didn’t.

Waterlefe residents complain the new detour plan is more confusing than the original plan, as evidenced by frequent drivers still going the wrong way.

The impact to Waterlefe is about to be compounded since season has begun and the golf course will be getting higher-volume play. The return of winter residents also means more Waterlefe residents will be using the area.

The work being done on Upper Manatee River Road is part of Manatee County’s project to construct a bridge over the Manatee River, from Fort Hamer Road to Upper Manatee River Road. The county also is making improvements to Upper Manatee as part of the project.

Waterlefe is in the middle of it all, with its main entrance just south of the right-angle eastward bend of Upper Manatee River Road — where a new traffic signal will go. It will connect to the future Fort Hamer Bridge, slated for completion in summer 2017.

The northbound detour on Upper Manatee starts just south of Waterlefe’s public entrance and concludes north of it, at Gates Creek Road.

Johnson Bros. Corp. started the work outside Waterlefe’s entrance in August. That’s when the detour, and the confusion, began.

And now it’s become an issue with financial implications. With the Waterlefe golf course trying to attract players, the detour may be extended until spring, possibly as late as April.

“For us, we have a limited time to make our revenue,” Golf Course Committee member Steve Sanborn said, noting about 60% of revenue come from play between December and March. “This could be a substantial problem for the health of the golf course.”

About 60% of the course’s play comes from nonresidents, who might want to avoid the work area. The detour already is impacting tee times, as golfers unfamiliar with the detour follow their GPS devices to Waterlefe’s back, gated entrance and are unable to enter.

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s disruptive,” Sanborn said.

Trudy Gerena, spokeswoman for the project on behalf of Manatee County, said weather from hurricanes Hermine and Matthew slowed the pace of work and caused the detour extension.

“We estimate spring. We try not to put an exact date on it,” she said. “The contractor is aware everybody is concerned.”

To complicate matters, Gerena notified Waterlefe officials Oct. 22 that there would be a two-week closure, starting Oct. 26, of the resident-only back gate. The contractor is installing curb and pavement there.

Bumgarner and Schappacher worry about the timing for the back gate closure, for the gatehouse at Waterlefe’s main entrance is undergoing renovations and only one lane is open to traffic.

Bumgarner, chairman of the Waterlefe Community Development District, which owns the golf course, is pushing the county to modify its detour plans for Upper Manatee River Road to what was originally proposed. That plan would allow direct northbound entry into Waterlefe, while directing through-traffic onto the existing detour, which takes drivers onto Third Avenue Northeast, to Gates Creek Road and back onto Upper Manatee River Road.

He said the change is needed both for the health of the golf course, as well as to accommodate residents of Waterlefe’s 617 homes.

At the direction of the CDD board, Schappacher is continuing to advocate for detour changes for Waterlefe, as well.