Portion of 53rd Avenue West in Bradenton to be closed until July

A portion of 53rd Avenue West in West Bradenton will be closed for a few weeks beginning Monday.

As part of the 53rd Avenue West improvement project, the section between 51st Street West and 66th Street West will be closed until July 1.

“This closure is to allow for the relocation, adjustment and installation of major utilities,” according to the road closure notice. “Access will be maintained for local residents and to County Golf Course from east side of closure (51st Street West).”

This is the only road closure anticipated during the project, which is turning the undivided two-lane, an approximately 1.8-mile segment of 53rd Avenue West between 43rd Street West to the roundabout at 75th Street West, into a divided four-lane roadway, according to Eric Epler with the contractor Woodruff & Sons Inc. of Bradenton.

Last summer, the Manatee County Commission awarded the contract to the Bradenton company for almost $12 million with 730 calendar days to complete. As of Friday, the project is about 35 percent complete, Epler said.

“We are right on schedule,” he said.

The road closure will allow installation of a new 42-inch force main across the street. Crews “will continue to build new roadway as pipe installation continues from west to east,” Epler said.

“Once we do that and get that installed and get the new roadway, which will be the new eastbound lanes, we will put traffic on the eastbound lanes,” he said. “We will put in the new roadway, which is on the south side, which is future eastbound lanes, then divert traffic onto that.”

The work completed during the road closure is the “most challenging portion of the project,” Epler said.

“It is a temporary inconvenience for a permanent improvement,” he said.

The project also includes modification of traffic signals at the intersections at 51st Street West and 66th Street West. The Advanced Traffic Management System will be installed from 43rd Street West to 75th Street West. New signing and pavement marking will be done along 53rd Avenue West in addition to replacing the force main.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Portion of 53rd Avenue West in Bradenton to be closed until July."