Traffic circle at dangerous, high-speed intersection in East Manatee a bad idea

Placing a traffic circle at the dangerous intersection of Rye Road and State Road 64 is a terrible idea. In my experience, traffic circles can work for low-speed routes involving single lanes of traffic in all directions.

However, most vehicles on multi-lane SR 64 travel at the speed limit of 60 mph or faster. There have been many accidents including fatalities at this intersection. A traffic circle would not work well here.

Currently it is dangerous (1) for eastbound traffic from 64 to turn left across the westbound lanes onto Rye Road; (2) for traffic to turn left from Rye Road across the eastbound lanes of 64 and to merge with westbound traffic on 64 -- cars frequently wait many minutes for traffic turning from eastbound 64 onto Rye Road to clear; and (3) for traffic to turn right from Rye Road in front of the speeding traffic on 64.

The simplest and safest solution would be to install a traffic light (with a left-turn lead for eastbound traffic on 64 turning onto Rye) and to add a right-turn lane at the end of Rye Road. This would also reduce the long backups on Rye Road during rush hours and school pickup/dropoff periods at Witt Elementary on Rye, largely resulting from left-turn traffic waiting to turn onto eastbound SR 64.

I have seen an increasing volume of traffic on both Rye Road and SR 64 since moving to this area four years ago. With all the current and planned new-home construction in the area bringing additional cars and construction vehicles, the risk of serious accidents at this intersection will become even worse in the future than it is now.

Howard Kaplan

East Manatee County

This story was originally published January 10, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Traffic circle at dangerous, high-speed intersection in East Manatee a bad idea ."