BRADENTON BEACH – Manatee County and Bradenton Beach officials discussed lengthening the eastbound merge lane on Cortez Road to improve traffic flow at the intersection of Cortez Road and Gulf Drive at a June 18 joint meeting.
“The state owns the property and from informal discussions we’ve had with FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation), they don’t have the money for it, but if the city, county, private people could work together to at least acquire the land or easements, the state could allow the city or county to work on improvements in that right of way or accept it for maintenance later,” Manatee County Deputy Director of Public Works Clarke Davis said.
“If the city were receptive to trying to make that right turn lane longer, leading up to that point, it would need a little bit of frontage of all the properties leading up to it on Gulf Drive,” he said. “If all the pieces fell the right way, there should be a way to lengthen that turn lane by at least a couple hundred feet which might provide some relief for traffic at that intersection.”
Davis said such a project would require the city’s support.
“I would like to comment on the intersection of Cortez and Gulf and the idea of possible eminent domain or condemnation,” Mayor John Chappie said. “The city commission discussed this at our last meeting and we’re not commenting with regard to that until the Complete Streets Project is complete and also the Anna Maria Island Barrier Island Study to see what they come up with and we’ll decide our position.”
Chappie added, “I will tell you over the decades I’ve been around, the city commission has always been in opposition to eminent domain on anybody’s property.”
Chappie said growth on the mainland is contributing to traffic congestion on Anna Maria Island.
“I think we need to pay more attention not just what’s happening on the Island, but on the mainland, in particular with what we’re going to be facing pretty quick at the corner of 75th and Cortez Road and the 8,000 units, there’s a lot going in there and a lot of people are going to want to be coming down Cortez Road to go to the beach,” he said. “I’m hopeful that someone will come up with some ideas to reduce some of the traffic and the ability for those people that live there to be able to come out to the Island.”
Bradenton Beach Commissioner Ralph Cole suggested adding slow-speed vehicle lanes to Cortez Road and Manatee Avenue to accommodate those on golf carts and electric bikes.
“Cortez Road is wide enough that you could have a slow-speed vehicle lane going all the way up to 75th Street so that people could come from in town in their low speed vehicles and make it all the way down to the Island,” Cole said. “You could also incorporate pull-over spots if we really thought about it, if you’re driving down Gulf and holding traffic up and the bike lane is perfectly clear you could slide over and let traffic pass you.”
“Everybody is always trying to come up with a traffic solution for the island,” he said. “It’s probably one of the best ones and you could do it on Manatee Avenue too. Electric vehicles are evolving and we need to adapt. We’ve got the opportunity right now. You’re building a bridge and you’re widening the road. Now’s the time.”
