Lakewood Ranch roadway in need of change?

In mid January, Summerfield’s Laurie Fox was heading north on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard when she saw a vehicle overturned at the intersection with Summerfield Parkway.

The scene added to her concerns about safety conditions on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

The Summerfield Parkway intersection has a signal, but the one immediately south, at Clubhouse Drive and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, does not. It is a four-way stop that seems to be busier, as is the rest of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, in Fox’s opinion.

“I’ve seen people blow through that intersection,” Fox said. “They didn’t even know they ran a stop sign.”

With the opening of the Fort Hamer Bridge, Lakewood Ranch Community Development District supervisors, including Fox, worry traffic may be increasing on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and therefore adding to concerns about speeding and unsafe conditions. CDD staff members have asked Manatee County’s transportation department to study the Clubhouse intersection to see if a traffic signal might be needed.

Supervisors also want the county to consider a signal at the northernmost public entrance to the Country Club at Lakewood Ranch, at the boulevard’s intersection with Balmoral Woods Boulevard. Manatee County already is studying whether a signal is needed there, and is partway through a roughly 16-week evaluation process.

“The county regularly studies areas when we see or hear about traffic concerns,” said Sage Kamiya, deputy director of traffic management for Manatee County’s Public Works Department.

The intersection did not meet criteria for a signal when the county studied it a one year ago.