MANATEE — It may be just four feet of asphalt, but it could make all the difference to bicyclists and motorists along a two-mile stretch of U.S. 41 where the speed limit is 50 mph.
The state, with a little nudge from Mike Lasche, director of the Florida Bicycle Association, recently stenciled the bike path from the Manatee-Sarasota county line north to near Bowlees Creek.
“What makes this designation worth noting is that the lane, four feet of space with a white stripe separator between the outside lane and the curb-gutter, was actually built in 2003, but remained unstenciled, unsigned, and completely undesignated for 6 and a half years,” Lasche said.
Signage is expected to be added later this month.
Jim Van Pelt, public transportation planner for the Sarasota Manatee Planning Organization, said the newly stenciled bike path is part of a larger picture of tying everything together to make a safe, interconnected bike system.
“When you’re on a fairly high speed road, it doesn’t matter if it’s designated or not — you have to be careful,” Van Pelt said.
In the future, the MPO will be starting work on a study for a bike and pedestrian trail system serving Manatee and Sarasota, he said.
It won’t come too soon.
Florida routinely leads the nation in being the most dangerous state for cyclists, and Manatee and Sarasota are among the most dangerous counties in Florida, Lasche said.
The Tampa Bay area accounts for four of Florida’s five most dangerous counties for cyclists with populations greater than 200,000, according to the fiscal year 2011 highway safety index.
Pinellas is ranked most dangerous, followed by Manatee County in third place, Sarasota in fourth and Hillsborough in fifth.
Gainesville’s Alachua County is the only non-Tampa Bay county on the list, ranking as the second-most dangerous.
“Florida leads the nation in pedestrian and bike fatalities. We have been in the top three every year since 2001,” Lasche said.
Arthur Guilford, regional chancellor of University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, hailed the new bike path stenciling.
“This will be a real improvement for our students,” Guilford said.
Guilford said his campus has also lobbied to have medians added from the county line north to Braden Avenue to calm traffic and make it easier and safer to get onto and off school property.
Eventually, Lasche said he would like to see connecting bike paths extended from the county line along U.S. 41 south to downtown Sarasota.
