County expands 44th Ave. project

Residents of Peridia and Fairfax may soon see dirt moving near their neighborhoods as Woodruff & Sons begins construction on a new segment of the 44th Avenue extension.

The piece is a lone segment, but Manatee County expects to complete the adjacent western piece around the same time, creating a new route to downtown Bradenton and an alternative to State Road 70 for those residents.

The contractor’s official start date was Feb. 23, but site work is expected to begin March 1. Woodruff & Sons has until September 2016 to create the new 1.3-mile, four-lane roadway from 30th Street East to 45th Street East.

When it’s finished, the roadway will be a complete street with medians, concrete curbs, 4-foot bike lanes, 5-foot sidewalks and roadway lighting.

The project’s cost is approximately $10.5 million.

“It’s really easy construction because there’s no existing road there,” said Donnie Holcomb, vice president on HDR Engineering and project designer. “That allows us to go pretty quickly.”

Manatee County and the Florida Department of Transportation held a public meeting Feb.16, at Bible Baptist Church, during which the public could review project plans and ask questions of engineers, contractors and government officials. 

“It’s been helpful,” said Gabe Diaz, who owns property along 44th Avenue, while he reviewed construction drawings. “I wasn’t expecting this quick a timeline.”

Although 44th Avenue East is not constructed on either side of the new roadway segment, Manatee County Project Manager Kent Bontrager said those pieces would come soon. The piece from 19th Street to 30th Street is in right-of-way acquisition mode, and he expects negotiations to go quickly. 

“We expect to finish (that) around the same time (as this project),” Bontrager said. 

But, Bontrager said, the biggest gain will be when the next piece of the 44th Avenue extension — from 45th Street east across the Braden River to the northern end of Creekwood Boulevard — comes online. That project now is in the design and permitting phase.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].