Manatee County’s ‘road construction project of the decade’ nears most challenging phase
It probably seemed like science fiction to some in 2006, when Manatee County commissioners approved plans to extend 44th Avenue East from Cortez Road to Lakewood Ranch.
John Osbourne, a former Manatee County planning official, called it — along with the Fort Hamer bridge project, which had been discussed for a century — the road construction projects of the decade.
Work started on the Fort Hamer Bridge, linking Parrish and Lakewood Ranch, in 2015. When it opened in 2017, it also provided a north-south alternative to Interstate 75.
The first phase of construction of the 44th Avenue extension started in 2013. To date, four phases have been completed, one is in progress, and the final stage is set to begin in the spring of 2023.
The work has gone on so long that Ogden Clark, strategic affairs manager for Manatee County Works, says residents often ask whether 44th Avenue will ever be extended.
The short answer is that much of it has already been completed, with one huge exception — the Interstate 75 overpass.
The I-75 overpass
Construction of the I-75 overpass from Bradenton to Lakewood Ranch is expected to begin in May 2023, and take a couple of years to complete, Clark said this week.
The contract, which has yet to be bid, calls for about three years to completion.
Other than the obvious challenges of spanning a busy interstate highway, the project is complicated by a 90-acre effluent lake (which means it has cleaned and treated waste water) and a wetland mitigation area, part of the county’s waste water treatment system, on the east side of I-75.
From the I-75 overpass, 44th Avenue would continue east and connect with Lena Road via a roundabout, and with Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.
The planned intersection of 44th Avenue and Lena Road would also provide some north-south connectivity. Plans call for Lena Road to be extended so that drivers could use it to reach State Road 70 and State Road 64, County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said.
“It’s a crucial piece of the puzzle,” she said.
Braden River bridge nears completion
On the west side of I-75, construction workers are now completing a low-level bridge over the Bradenton River. That bridge has not yet been linked to completed portions of 44th Avenue east or west of the bridge.
The extension of 44th Avenue between 45th Street East and the west side of I-75, including the Braden River bridge, is the fifth and, to date, the most expensive of six project segments with an original cost of $67.8 million. County officials expect the fifth phase of the project to be completed no later than May 2023.
The cost estimate for the sixth and final phase of the extension project — the I-75 overpass — has not been announced.
When completed, the 44th Avenue extension will provide another much-need east-west connector, allowing drivers to travel from Lakewood Ranch to Bradenton and Anna Maria Island, relieving crowding on State Road 64 and State Road 70.
The extension would provide new road capacity for approximately 36,000 more vehicles per day while reducing traffic demand on parallel thoroughfares (S.R. 64 and S.R. 70) by a combined 21,000 vehicles per day.
Building for the future
While there has been no dispute that something needs to be done to alleviate traffic problems, residents living near the Braden River bridge project and neighborhoods like Highland Ridge, Peridia, Sable Harbour, Fairfax, Wallingford and Rosedale previously have expressed concerns when they learned about the project.
In 2006, county commissioners were united in their belief that extending 44th Avenue East was an important part of growth planning.
Former commissioner Ron Getman called extending 44th Avenue the “No. 1 priority,” adding “It’s the right thing to do.’‘
Joe McClash, also a commissioner at that time, said extending 44th wasn’t needed for existing impacts. “It’s for future growth,’‘ he said in 2006.
Recently, Manatee County Building Services began review of construction plans for the next section of 44th Avenue East to extend the highway 8,000 feet east of Bourneside Boulevard in Lakewood Ranch.
The project, and associated stormwater facilities, will be built by developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch.
For more information on the 44th Avenue Extension projects, visit https://44thaveeast.com.
This story was originally published July 8, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
