Lakewood Ranch road comes to fruition

Lorraine Road extension opens Ranch's move into Sarasota County.

By Pam Eubanks
| 7:50 a.m. August 30, 2017

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Vice President of Planning Richard Bedford says the public is anxious for the extension of Lorraine Road to open.

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For more than a decade, Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch envisioned a walkable, lake-centric community in which residents could live, work and play in Sarasota County.

Other roadways

Deer Drive

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch had completed Deer Drive, which runs from University Parkway southwest to the future extension of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, but now is making some slight modifications to the roadway.

South of where Pulte Group is developing Waterside’s first residential community, Shoreview, contractors are adding a roundabout design. In the future, the roundabout will provide access into Waterside Place, the major commercial center for Waterside at Lakewood Ranch. It will feature apartments and a mixture of dining, retail and business offerings.

Deer Drive is blocked just south of the entrance into Shoreview, and it could remain that way indefinitely, Bedford said, noting the road doesn’t connect to a functional road yet.

Deer Drive services The Out-of-Door Academy, Lakewood Ranch Baptist, Shoreview and a few homes in the Sarasota Polo Club.

Boulevard extension

As part of development approvals for Waterside at Lakewood Ranch, developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch is required to extend Lakewood Ranch Boulevard south to Fruitville Road.

SMR has finished the design, but Sarasota County continues to finalize deals for land needed to build the road.

The Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District executed agreements with seven property owners in summer 2016 that set forth conditions associated with the roadway’s construction. Sarasota County has been negotiating for the purchase of the land since that time. Four parcels are still under negotiations, a Sarasota County staff member said.

Construction of the road can’t begin until the right of way has been acquired.

But part of that vision for Waterside at Lakewood Ranch, a 5,144-home lake-centric development south of University Parkway and east of Interstate 75, also included an expansion of the area’s road network via extensions of Lorraine Road and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard southward.

The first of those tasks will be accomplished Sept. 6, as Sarasota County officially opens Lorraine Road from University Parkway south to Fruitville Road.

“This helps us fill in our traffic grid. There’s a lot of growth that’s been happening out east between Fruitville and University, and this will help traffic move more smoothly,” said Carolyn Eastwood, transportation logistics and programs manager for Sarasota County’s transportation department. “It’s a rural area, or has been up to this point.”

The soon-to-open four-lane roadway is classified as a minor arterial road, meaning it will divert local traffic from larger, major roads.

Eastwood said there is no specific figure for traffic initially on the road, but, long term, Sarasota County expects it will handle up to 37,520 daily trips on average, according to its adopted level of service for the roadway.

“It will take a couple of years to achieve the capacity as traffic redistributes and development along Lorraine Road comes online,” Eastwood said.

Richard Bedford, vice president of planning for Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, said the extension of Lorraine Road south to Fruitville not only will service future Waterside at Lakewood Ranch residents, but also the surrounding community.

There is no other north-south connector between Sarasota and Manatee counties east of Interstate 75. And, west of I-75, there’s Cattlemen Road and the two-lane Honore Avenue within a short distance of I-75.

“People can’t wait for it to open,” Bedford said of Lorraine.

Sarasota County Commissioner Charles Hines said the roadway will be a significant benefit, especially in light of other road improvements made over the past several years, including the opening of diverging diamond interchange at University Parkway and Interstate 75, the Cattlemen Road extension and the pending opening of the Fort Hamer Bridge. All work together to create a road network that helps disperse traffic better.

“It gives everyone alternative routes to get places,” he said. “If you don’t have to go past the interstate to go to dinner or to get groceries, that’s good. It’s all positive.”

SMR also is waiting to construct Lakewood Ranch Boulevard south to Fruitville Road, but is waiting for Sarasota County to finalize the purchase of land needed to build the roadway.