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Fort Hamer Bridge is creating a nightmare of traffic

FILE: The Fort Hamer Bridge curves toward the south bank of the Manatee River, just hours before the road opened to vehicular traffic on Oct. 18, 2017.
FILE: The Fort Hamer Bridge curves toward the south bank of the Manatee River, just hours before the road opened to vehicular traffic on Oct. 18, 2017. James A. Jones Jr. jajones1@bradenton.com

With the opening of the new Fort Hamer Bridge, the increase in traffic and delays on Upper Manatee River Road is a major problem that will only become worse as season progresses.

Initially, when the adjacent construction on Upper Manatee River Road was first publicized, the plan was for two lanes in each direction, sidewalks and bicycle lanes. However, this plan was never followed and the end result — after a year's inconvenience — was one lane in each direction, some turning lanes and limited sidewalk.

My question: Did the county planners not anticipate the increased traffic the bridge would bring? Why wasn't Upper Manatee River Road redone to accommodate the additional traffic created by the opening of the Fort Hamer Bridge?

What a waste of tax dollars to not have done it correctly the first time.

Lewis Canzonetta

Bradenton

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Fort Hamer Bridge is creating a nightmare of traffic."

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