- December 4, 2025
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Manatee County Commissioner Bob McCann had a priority of making progress on one road project this budget season: widening Lorraine Road.
The once-rural road has seen a major increase in traffic as developments have been built along the corridor between State Road 70 and State Road 64. It even landed itself on Manatee County's "Big Six," a list of the top roadwork priorities in 2022.
“That road is way too cramped,” McCann said. “We have bigger bike paths than that.”
Despite McCann’s request that money be taken from other transportation projects and funneled into Lorraine Road, commissioners voted 6-1 to go in another direction.
Instead of large undertakings like widening Lorraine Road, commissioners are focused on maintaining the current infrastructure and making small improvements that will have a big impact for the residents in those areas, such as connecting sidewalks that don't meet, bridge rehabilitation projects and creating a trail system.
The county had presented a $66 million plan to widen 2.8 miles of Lorraine Road between 59th Avenue East and State Road 64 in February 2024.
The project included lighting, two additional car lanes, a raised median, a 10-foot multiuse path on the west side, a 5-foot sidewalk on the east side and 7-foot buffered bike lanes on both sides.
The work was estimated to begin in January 2025 and end in May 2027.
The capital improvement plan looks five years ahead. Since Lorraine Road is not being funded within the FY 2026-2030 plan, any possible improvements will now be pushed back to no sooner than 2031.
And the price is growing. Public Works' Scott May said the values for acquisitions have come in higher than expected from appraisals. The county originally estimated it needed 87 acquisitions for the project along the 2.8-mile stretch.
Scott May, engineering division manager for Manatee County, laid out four options for funding transportation projects in the capital improvement plan during the Sept. 2 commission meeting; two included Lorraine Road and two excluded Lorraine Road.
In this scenario, 16 other projects within District 5 would have been defunded in order to fund 50% of Lorraine Road. The Lena Road extension project and the roundabout on University Parkway at Legacy Boulevard and Deer Drive were among the projects listed to be defunded.
In this scenario, 27 projects from around the county would have been defunded, which May said would account for about 50% of the overall transportation budget in the CIP of $400 million. This option included defunding the intersection improvements at State Road 70 and Lockwood Ridge Road, which experiences major backups, and also defunding some bridge rehabilitation projects.
Commissioner Tal Siddique wasn't overly concerned about Lorraine Road because he said the road will benefit from the higher impact fee schedule that takes effect Sept. 9.
Lorraine Road would be defunded as one of between five and nine projects being defunded in District 5. The cuts would have depended on if the county hired a Construction Manager at Risk or went with the lowest bid. The latter would have resulted in the least amount of cuts to other projects. A 1.12-mile portion of 63rd Avenue East would be widened between US 301 and Tuttle Avenue.
May described this option as the one that offers "the most bang for the buck," and six out of the seven commissioners agreed. It eliminates funding for both Lorraine Road and 63rd Avenue East in lieu of several less expensive projects.
McCann was the only dissenting vote.
“I would have fully funded Lorraine Road for the simple reason that (the majority of the board) keep rezoning and allowing building there without proper roads,” he said. “It’s a problem.”
McCann, along with commissioners Carol Felts and Jason Bearden, have consistently voted against everything that’s come before them this year on that stretch of Lorraine Road, including a final plat on an affordable housing project, an increase in commercial space, and a request for 35 homes on 12 acres.
There were only enough votes to deny the commercial request.
Bearden traced the need to widen Lorraine Road back to 2013 and questioned why impact fees from developments, such as Savanna at Lakewood Ranch, haven’t already paid for the improvements to the road they’ve impacted.
Bearden gave a “rough estimate” of $72 million in impact fees that the county would have collected on just two of the developments constructed on Lorraine Road.
Director of Public Works Chad Butzow and Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean said they would return with reports that show exactly how much was collected in impact fees and where that money was spent.
The next budget meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10.
