Key leaders question Fruitville redesign plans

Between the installation of roundabouts and a reduction in the number of lanes, the city isn’t shying away from controversial proposals as it considers plans for redesigning Fruitville Road.

The city wants to make the thoroughfare more pedestrian-friendly between U.S. 301 and U.S. 41 to encourage activity downtown. Still, residents on Sarasota’s barrier islands have been some of the most active participants in the planning process.

For those residents, the look and feel of the road is a secondary concern to the practical question of how it flows. Addressing traffic issues continues to be a priority on Lido, St. Armands and Longboat keys. Fruitville Road is seen as a key cog in the congested road network that extends onto U.S. 41, the John Ringling Causeway and St. Armands Circle.

That’s why, for leaders of the Lido and St. Armands residents associations, the most controversial aspect of the Fruitville plans is the much drier matter of projected growth rates.

A preliminary study from consultant Sam Schwartz Engineering suggests road capacity and driving time is not significantly affected by either concept for changing Fruitville. Projected travel times are mostly slower with the improvements than without them, but through 2038, the new designs would add no more than 25 seconds to the peak travel time along the road.

To calculate the 2038 traffic conditions, the engineering firm assumed a 1% growth rate for each of the next 10 years, and a 0.5% growth rate for each of the  following 10 years. City Chief Planner Steve Stancel said that is a similar growth rate to the past 10 years, but some residents don’t buy those figures considering the impending growth.

“I think some of their statistics are potentially seriously flawed,” said Hugh Fiore, president of the St. Armands Residents Association. “They used traffic counts similar to the past 10 or 20 years, but at the beginning of the meeting, they announced there are 30-some-odd construction projects in the area.”

More than 500 hotel rooms alone are planned on Fruitville Road between Cocoanut Avenue and the bayfront. Big projects in the area, including Vue Sarasota Bay and the development of the Sarasota Quay, could draw significantly more traffic to Fruitville.

“I really can’t believe they’re taking that into consideration,” said Carl Shofstall, president of the Lido Key Residents Association. “I’m not against it, but we need to look at this a lot more closely before they start to do anything.”

Beyond the general traffic onto and off the island, there are also questions about how Fruitville Road’s status as an evacuation route would be impacted by the changing streetscape — particularly if a portion was just two lanes.

“We need to look at this a lot more closely before they start to do anything.” — Carl Shofstall

The city has met with city and county emergency service personnel, revising the two-lane roundabout alternative to include an 8-foot-wide emergency lane. Still, concerns linger.

Stancel said the city is working to get evacuation travel times to further study that aspect of the project. In theory, he said, any impact on the westbound travel time on Fruitville during a hurricane could be rendered irrelevant by the presence of U.S. 301, another evacuation route.

“You’re eventually stopped at 301,” Stancel said.

City staff also plans to meet with Longboat Key representatives, because officials there expressed similar concerns about the potential reduction in lanes.

“Although this might not reduce the current level of service of this segment of the road, it will most assuredly reduce traffic flow and increase congestion,” wrote Longboat Key Mayor Jack Duncan in a Feb. 24 letter to the city. 

Any project is unlikely to begin for at least two years. A phased build-out could take about 10 years if it does move forward.

In the meantime, interested parties on Longboat, St. Armands and Lido are primarily pushing for more information — and an assurance that any project won’t negatively affect travel off of and onto the keys.

“We don’t fully have a grasp of what the city staff is trying to accomplish,” said Longboat Key Town Manager Dave Bullock. “We’re trying to educate ourselves on that.”