Will a toll road overpass fix Bradenton traffic? FDOT says it’s possible
The Florida Department of Transportation has narrowed the Bradenton-Palmetto connector study to three options to alleviate the area’s traffic congestion.
Representatives from FDOT presented the latest in a years-long study to Manatee County commissioners on Tuesday, saying the department will soon hold public workshops for community input on the proposed corridor improvements.
The Bradenton-Palmetto Connector Alternative Corridor Evaluation is on the tail end of the Project Development and Environment phase. FDOT representatives say what started as 10 corridors and dozens of iterations is now focused on three main options, which include combinations of three corridors.
At this point in the study, FDOT representatives say none of the options appear as the “best” solution, and each one has its own challenges, including how widened roadways — or elevated highways — would impact the surrounding community.
“The analysis doesn’t reveal any outliers where some corridors seem to perform better in terms of alleviating traffic,” Project Development Manager Jimmy Vilcé said. “Hopefully, as a community, we can all sit down and make the best decision as far as which corridor we might want to move forward.”
Traffic improvements ‘high priority’ for FDOT
Figuring out how to alleviate traffic congestion in the area, especially given population projections, is key for the FDOT.
At the Board of County Commissioner’s Tuesday meeting, FDOT representatives said new studies show 47% of trips through the Bradenton-Palmetto study area are through trips, meaning the drivers do not stop in Bradenton or Palmetto. That number is up from 31% in 2014.
The study area includes the Green Bridge, the DeSoto Bridge and the Trooper J.D. Young Bridge, which is the I-75 bridge to the east near Ellenton.
The department started with 10 corridors that could have included new bridges and the expansion of existing bridges. After a public hearing in November, the options are down to three corridors:
- Corridor A: starts at State Road 70 (53rd Avenue East) and the U.S. 301 intersection, travels along U.S. 41, and ends between 33rd Street West and the U.S. 19 and U.S. 41 split.
- Corridor B: starts at State Road 70 (53rd Avenue East) and the U.S. 301 intersection, follows U.S. 301 and Ninth Street East. It could include a new bridge crossing over the Manatee River from Ninth Street East to 16th Avenue East, continuing along 16th Avenue East, following 29th Street East and ending at the U.S. 19 and U.S. 41 split.
- Corridor D: starts at the State Road 70 (53rd Avenue East) and U.S. 301 intersection, follows U.S. 301 and connects to 27th Street East via 38th Avenue East. It could include a new bridge crossing over the Manatee River from 27th Street East to Leffingwell Avenue, continuing along Leffingwell Avenue and 36th Avenue East and ending at U.S. 41.
The demand is already higher than the capacity of the existing bridges, and the FDOT said that demand will continue to rise. Current estimates predict Manatee County’s population to increase by over 200,000 from 2020 to 2045, according to the FDOT representatives.
That’s why the project team identified three possible scenarios that would help alleviate the traffic problems in the area.
First is a new DeSoto Bridge expanded to six lanes, plus two elevated lanes. FDOT representatives compared the raised lanes to the Selmon West Extension over Gandy Boulevard in Tampa.
Second would be a new DeSoto Bridge with four lanes, and a new, six lane bridge in Corridor D.
The third option would be a new six-lane DeSoto Bridge and a new, four lane bridge in Corridor D.
Every option has challenges, including constraints from existing buildings and impacts to the communities, especially where a new bridge could be built. FDOT hopes to hold public workshops early next year to gather feedback from the community on the three options.
“That would be advertised to the public along the corridors with the goal of getting feedback from the public to hopefully move towards a preferred alignment,” FDOT Project Manager Michelle Ruthishauser said. “This is a high priority project for FDOT. We want to see this project moving forward and, in order to do that, we need feedback.”
The project team will select one of the options for a public hearing following the workshops.
FDOT weighs overpass possibility
For now, FDOT is focusing on Corridor A. Within that corridor is the DeSoto Bridge, which FDOT has slated for a $168 million replacement starting in 2030.
FDOT representatives said the design of the DeSoto Bridge will be flexible enough for FDOT to add traffic lanes at a future date if that turns out to be the best option in the Bradenton-Palmetto connector study.
Adding lanes throughout the corridor, before the DeSoto Bridge, is complicated, FDOT says. Signalized intersections create challenges with adding lanes, and there are 10 from State Road 70 to the DeSoto Bridge, according to the FDOT.
The corridor is also constrained to the east and west by Manatee Memorial Hospital and the Aria Bradenton apartments, which makes adding lanes more difficult.
Manatee County commissioners supported the possibility of an overpass or flyover similar to the Selmon West Extension. However, it is a much more expensive option than the alternatives.
FDOT representatives said the two-mile Selmon overpass cost $230 million in 2018, and the cost for an overpass in Bradenton would likely be even more expensive with current construction costs.
“It functions well, but it’s very, very expensive,” Consultant Project Manager Gail Woods said. “We can go ahead and make the improvement surface-wise, and then, in the future when the money is available, we could build the elevated section.”
Commissioner Mike Rahn asked if the FDOT would consider making the Bradenton overpass a toll road like the Selmon Extension.
“With regard to whether there’s a possibility for tolling this road, I would say at this point that is not off the table,” Vilcé said.
However, uncertainty remains with these options as the design, right-of-way and construction phases for the Bradenton-Palmetto Connector Alternative Corridor Evaluation study are still unfunded.
Vilcé could not give an estimate on how long an overpass construction would take, but said, “construction could take a while.”
