Greenbrook traffic signal turns green

Greenbrook resident Fiona Peters could get to work in two minutes on any give day.

Her home in Greenbrook is just across State Road 70 from the newly opened Luxe apartment complex, where she serves as property manager.

But Peters, like many of her neighbors, opts for a longer route, taking Greenbrook Boulevard to Lorraine Road and backtracking westward on State Road 70.

It’s a habit she will continue until the Florida Department of Transportation installs a traffic signal at the intersection of Greenbrook Boulevard and State Road 70 later this year. FDOT doesn’t have a timeline for the project, but spokesman Robin Stublen said it should be completed by year’s end.

“I think it’s great,” Peters said of the project. “Safety-wise, I myself go all the way around. In the mornings and evenings, it gets congested.”

Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 4 supervisors said residents of Greenbrook are worried about safety at the intersection and are anxious to see the signal installed. 

Jim Skarda and his wife, Cindy, are two of them. Cindy Skarda frequently uses the entrance at Lorraine Road to enter and leave the community and Jim Skarda, a retiree, plans outings outside peak traffic times.

“It’s a normal thing of growth,” Jim Skarda said of the traffic on S.R. 70. “It keeps getting busier and busier. When you confront that access to 70, you’ve got to run the gauntlet to get yourself out in the middle.”

He said the situation will become more challenging when residents of Luxe need to head east and will need space in the median. Skarda generally dislikes traffic signals, but he supports this one. 

Greenbrook resident Steve Balazic agrees it is needed.

“I am awaiting it with bated breath,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s long overdue. There have been a number of accidents at that intersection. I have a neighbor who got hurt pretty bad there last year. The need for the light was there all along.”

Local resident Barbara Broadbridge said the need for a light was evident.

"The light on State Road 70 should have been installed before the apartments opened," she said. "Drivers already stack up in the median, now we have cars stacking up both directions, trucks pulling u-turns, residents trying to be on time to work or school, all a bad combination.

"It was not so bad when everyone was heading west. Now, we have successful businesses east of Greenbrook so the intersection is incredibly dangerous. Just to get to most businesses going west, you have to cut across five lanes of traffic coming at you at 60+ miles per hour. At minimum they should drop the speed limit and extend the right turn lane turning into Greenbrook now, while we wait for the light."

FDOT will spend $581,000 on the project.

Stublen said FDOT has not determined a start date. Work will include: installation of a traffic signal, the lengthening of existing eastbound right turn lane on State Road 70, modifying existing striping on the northbound approach to include dual left tun lanes and a through/right turn lane; and other requirements of the project, such as lighting and signal poles.