Stuck in downtown Bradenton traffic? Some fixes remain years away

A study on how to alleviate congestion between Bradenton and Palmetto, as well as what should replace the DeSoto Bridge, is leaving more questions than answers, and frustrated officials pressing to quicken the process.

So what's next?

"We need to find the best alternative and push like hell to get it done," Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said during a commission meeting Tuesday..

But what is the "best alternative"? Will the replacement be an at-grade, six-lane bridge? Will it be a controversial flyover? Will it be a replacement combined with a third bridge?

And will elected officials ultimately agree on what they want as the process goes forward?

"It's important to note that all alternatives are still on the table," said Greg Moore, a project consultant working with the Florida Department of Transportation.

A future project development and environmental study, set to be funded in 2023, will ultimately determine which option is viable and be built within 10 to 15 years.. Early estimates are that it could cost about $140 million, but the final option is anyone's guess despite the months of studies and public and community meetings.

Options are still up for debate but the timeframe is not an option with traffic continuing grow.

Manatee County officials expressed confidence that funding can be made available much sooner and FDOT needs to be prepared and ready to proceed.

"The PD&E being five years down the road is just not going to cut it," Baugh said. "We have great opportunities to speed this up, so I'm a little leery on what I'm hearing. I do know this is a process, but we all know the process can be sped up."

County officials pointed to the diverging diamond project at the Interstate 75 and University Parkway interchange as an example. The project was slated for 2025, but with the right political pressure and community demand, it was funded and built years ahead of schedule.

"Be prepared," said Commissioner Carol Whitmore. "Our job is to get the study done and get the funding for it and get it moved up. We are going to work very hard to move this project up."

In the meantime ...

If the FDOT short-term traffic solution models are accurate, short-term relief could come much sooner to the DeSoto and Green bridges over the Manatee River..

The plan is designed to alleviate the choke points at the Desoto Bridge at First Street and Manatee Avenue by eliminating the outside left-hand turn lane onto Manatee Avenue and forcing traffic to find its way into downtown from Ninth Avenue West with a preferred reentry point to the one-ways at Third Street West.

At the Green Bridge choke point on Sixth and Manatee avenues and Ninth Street West, the plan is to force northbound drivers to turn right onto Sixth, then north onto Eighth Avenue to gain reentry onto Manatee Avenue to divert those drivers away from those seeking to cross the bridge.

It's estimated that FDOT's plan will reduce overall traffic congestion by 38 percent. "That's a big bite out of the apple," Moore said.

Though the plan is being supported by the city of Bradenton, skepticism remains on just how accurate the models are. Massey said the Manatee-Sarasota Metropolitan Planning Organization has funding available to move the project forward within two to three years.

Design is underway and the project comes with about a $5 million price tag.

What can go wrong?

The short answer is a lot. Long term, assuming the short-term solutions work and funding arrives quicker than more traffic, there are two primary obstacles.

The first became known Tuesday when NAACP Manatee County Chapter president Rodney Jones announced the NAACP would be filing a lawsuit against FDOT.

Jones alleges a civil rights violation took place and accuses FDOT of deliberately excluding the black community from the conversation about the flyover proposal, which Jones has said would cause intentional harm to the black community and historic church district along First Street.

"The NAACP will be bringing forth a lawsuit and an injunction and once we do that, there won't be any funding," Jones said.

Massey has denied Jones' claims and said FDOT met with every community that wanted a meeting, totaling more than 65. FDOT also formed a First Street working group to ensure the community had a voice and input. Those meetings have led FDOT to agree to a complete street study of Ninth Avenue West in order to promote economic development.

At a town hall meeting earlier this year, state Rep. Wengay "Newt" Newton, D-St. Petersburg, spoke on the topic of the flyover to the community, which included members of the First Street working group.

Newton was 40 minutes late to the town hall due to being stuck in traffic. He said, "Look at what you got now. You got a four-lane parking lot. You got to balance them both, but we want (FDOT) to go out and do their due diligence, but don't make no an option."

Newton said the community has to look at the bigger picture and take into consideration things like emergency responders.

"What if nothing is done and one of you ends up dead because it took too long to get to you," he said. "Then what I have done as your elected official?"

The flyover

The proposed elevated flyover bridge would be designed specifically to take the 33 percent of the overall traffic that does not have a destination or departing point in Bradenton or Palmetto off of local streets by re-directing it to elevated lanes over the current roadway and the river.. The early concept is that the elevated lanes would begin in Palmetto near the Bradenton Area Convention Center and, in Bradenton, in the 1700 block of First Street.

Local traffic would remain on the lower tier. The concern from people like Jones has been what that would do to businesses and residents who find themselves under the overpass.

If the PD&E student determines the flyover is the preferred and most viable option, and all of the other pieces of the puzzle fall into place, it still must come to a vote in Bradenton, Palmetto and Manatee County.

Palmetto has not voiced any opposition to the flyover. Bradenton is somewhat divided with two councilmen opposing, two in favor and one on the fence. Manatee County Commissioner Charles Smith has voiced opposition to the flyover, but based on discussions alone a majority of county may be for it if it is determined that the flyover is the best option and the community supports it.

FDOT released early results of their survey in January showing 71 percent of the public in favor of the flyover, but Jones has consistently called those results "a lie." Jones points to a meeting in the First Street community where hundreds of people attended, and to a person, opposed the flyover.

Since then, public engagement in the First Street community has declined. At the most recent meeting between FDOT and the First Street working group, Massey said five people attended.

"We need the community to stay involved and need to get to the point to relieve congestion," Commissioner Betsy Benac said.

Massey said that just because the study is coming to an end, doesn't mean the involvement ends.

"We're not just dropping the ball here and leaving you," he said.

"Leaving us where?" one audience member was heard to say.

"What the hell did they decide?"

This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Stuck in downtown Bradenton traffic? Some fixes remain years away."