Lakewood widens main artery

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Schroeder-Manatee Ranch is well under way with required improvements to Lakewood Ranch Boulevard between State Road 70 and State Road 64.

The developer is widening the roadway to four lanes from Portal Crossing, just south of S.R. 64 south to Rangeland Parkway, just north of S.R. 70, to comply with a development agreement with the county for its northwest sector and Lakewood Centre developments of regional impact.

The agreement was formalized in September 2010 and the improvement was designed and permitted in late 2010 and 2011, SMR’s Vice President of Planning Todd Pokrywa said.

“This agreement gave us concurrency for the first phases of both (those) DRIs,” Pokrywa said, noting new developments such as LECOM’s School of Dental Medicine, Esplanade and Central Park all are part of those DRIs.

Improvements generally include the paving of the two inside lanes between Portal Crossing and Rangeland Parkway and upgrades to the traffic signal at the entrance to Lost Creek Apartments, Pokrywa said.

The segment between Portal Crossing and 44th Avenue, as well as the portion between Rangeland and Malachite, should be substantially finished before the start of the 2012/2013 school year, with the entire project substantially complete during the fall of 2012. The section between Portal Crossing and 44th will provide access from the north to Gullett Elementary School via four-lane Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, while the second segment from Rangeland to Malachite will provide access from the south to Lakewood Ranch High School via a four-lane roadway.

The remaining segment between Malachite and 44th is scheduled to be substantially complete during October 2012.

“We’re scheduling it so we have as little impact on the schools as possible,” Pokrywa said. “There’s always going to be a lane in each direction open during construction.”

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Bradenton also has road improvements underway, as it adds turn lanes into the parking lot of its new School of Dental Medicine.

Contractor Willis A. Smith is expected to be completed with the project in mid-July, just in time for the college’s first dental students to start classes July 23, LECOM Bradenton spokesperson Michael Polin said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].