- May 6, 2024
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It often feels like you can’t get there from here — especially if you’re driving around downtown Sarasota or trying to get on or off one of the keys. Traffic slows to a crawl during peak hours during season. But complaining about traffic jams is also a favorite pastime here.
That said, part-time residents returning home this season will find that some roadway projects have actually been completed, some are underway, and some won’t be anywhere near finished. Here’s what’s up with our roads:
The roundabout at U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue: Rejoice! Your drive over the Ringling Bridge to and from St. Armands Key will no longer be affected by a barrage of barricades and lane closures. The roundabout at U.S. 41 and Gulfstream that broke ground in 2021 is complete with the exception of landscaping.
Roundabout art: Projects to install “Poly” and “Seagrass,” the site-specific sculptures approved for the roundabouts at 14th and 10th streets, respectively, on U.S. 41, probably won’t happen, thanks to the unexpectedly high cost of building the mounting platforms. The city is now compelled to relocate those sculptures somewhere else in Sarasota. Stay tuned.
In June, a new traffic circle was installed at the intersection of Higel Avenue and Ocean Boulevard with the goal to alleviate a chokepoint and to promote safety at the intersection located at the apex of a curve near the northern entrance to Siesta Key.
In March, the Sarasota County Commission approved a $2.9 million project to convert the intersection at Beach Road and Midnight Pass Road to a roundabout. That project won’t begin until May 2024 with an anticipated completion of early summer 2025. The intention is to create a better flowing intersection with enhanced safety features for bicycles and pedestrians.
Work continues at the Interstate 75 exit at Clark Road to convert the interchange into a diverging diamond, similar to the interchange at University Parkway. This is an exit for serving traffic to and from south Siesta Key. The estimated completion is late 2024.
Other road work on Siesta Key that was planned or completed in the off-season, was the renourishment project of Turtle Beach that brought some 70,000 dump truck trips through Siesta Key over the course of several weeks.
While roadway improvements are on the horizon for Longboat Key, we won’t be seeing major progress for a couple of years. Here are three projects to keep an eye on:
Complete streets: The Complete Streets project is an approach to planning, designing and building streets that enables safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. This long-ranging project includes wider bike and pedestrian trails and other roadway changes to Gulf of Mexico Drive (GMD). Key to the Complete Streets project is a 12-foot-wide trail on the east side of GMD. According to Public Works Director Isaac Brownman, there will also be a 5-foot bike trail with two feet of buffer. Raised roadway medians are another important feature, for they provide “pedestrian refuge areas” — a safe place to stop while crossing the road. Due to the project’s scale, Brownman said the town will explore federal and state funding. The Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization set aside funding for the PD&E plan, but those funds will not become available until 2026 at the earliest.
The Broadway Street Roundabout project has been in talks since 2017. But last-minute issues with the design put brakes on it. When FDOT initially checked the plans at 60% completion, no issues were found. However, Brownman said the designs were nearly 100% complete when FDOT raised concern over the banking. (Banking is the way a road is slightly angled to maintain friction around a curve.) Brownman is now working with FDOT to see if it would help fund a redesign of the project, which could also be incorporated into the Complete Streets project.
Crosswalk upgrades: Five crosswalks are planned for future improvements. One is in a 35 mph zone located just north of the Broadway Street intersection of GMD. This will have a yellow pedestrian crossing sign with flashing lights that alert cars to stop. Four mid-block crosswalks in the 45 mph zone of GMD will be replaced with pedestrian hybrid beacons, also known as HAWK beacons. These have a mast arm that extends over the roadway, flashing yellow and then red to allow pedestrians to cross. Though Brownman was given a rough timeline, it may be a while before these improvements make their way to Longboat Key.
