Interchange construction meeting tonight

As the Florida Department of Transportation prepares for the Aug. 3 groundbreaking on the reconfiguration of the University Parkway/Interstate 75 interchange, it's preparing the public for what to expect in the coming weeks and years.

FDOT today will host a public meeting from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Keiser University, 6151 Lake Osprey Drive, Sarasota. 

There, attendees can view an animation of the project design and talk one-on-one with project staff and members of the construction team. There will not be a formal presentation.

For the University Parkway/I-75 project, FDOT will reconfigure the interchange as a diverging diamond and add an auxiliary lane on northbound and southbound I-75, among other improvements. The concept is based on a standard diamond interchange design, but it has a shift in crossroad traffic within the interchange that allows left turn movement to occur without crossing oncoming traffic. FDOT traffic engineers say the concept eliminates wait times at traffic signals and makes traffic run more efficiently.