FDOT to launch $17 million Bee Ridge project

Florida Department of Transportation is packaging two improvement projects on Bee Ridge Road together. 

The $17 million project will begin in early January 2016, and the tentative completion is set for the summer of 2018.

The project, which spans Bee Ridge from Siesta Drive to Dunn Drive in east Sarasota County, has two components. One will be a drainage improvement project.

FDOT staff inspected the road, which is showing signs of foundation settlement and causing dips in the asphalt. FDOT determined the underground pipes and drains need to be replaced to fix the problem. 

The old asphalt will be removed and the road resurfaced. 

This part of the project will be invasive.

“It’s an extremely busy road,” said Robin Stublen, District One FDOT spokesman. “Businesses will be inconvenienced.”

During construction, FDOT will have to shut down one lane of traffic, which will close entry to some streets and driveways. 

Stublen said FDOT will provide temporary entrances for businesses. 

The second part of the project will be building 11 “pedestrian refuge islands.” These marked and raised concrete islands provide pedestrians somewhere to stop when crossing the road elsewhere than a signalized crosswalk.

The islands will be located in the middle of the road in the bidirectional turn lane areas and should not affect the thoroughfare traffic. 

“There is a good distance between signalized intersections with crosswalks,” Stublen said. “People end up crossing where it is the most convenient for them—to get to a bus stop or a grocery store.”

This behavior leads to pedestrian and bicyclist accidents, because people will start to cross the street when oncoming traffic is clear, but don’t look at the opposite lanes. Then, they have to stop in the middle of the six-lane road, which is a safety hazard. 

Once the pedestrian islands are installed, that area becomes a pedestrian crossing regardless of signage or markings, Stublen said.

FDOT will be sending out notices to homeowners and businesses in the area. Stublen said he also plans on calling businesses to follow up, as the construction project will be inconvenient to those storefronts along Bee Ridge. 

FDOT will be holding a public meeting for anyone who wants to attend and ask questions, see plans or voice concerns Tuesday, Jan. 5 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 4150 South Shade Avenue.

The transportation department held a public meeting in May 2014 about the islands, which were met with uncertainty from Sarasota County Commissioners at the time.