SCAT plans for new shelters at Siesta Beach

Sarasota County Area Transit will announce at an upcoming Sarasota County Commission meeting its plans to construct additional bus shelters and pull-out lanes, and upgrade crosswalks at Siesta Beach.

On March 5, SCAT Director Glama Carter will outline for the County Commission the $313,372 project, which is projected to start construction by December 2015 and slated to be complete by an unspecified date in 2016. According to county documents, the proposal’s start and end dates would de-conflict it from the $21.5 million Siesta Beach Renovations, which have a projected completion date of November 2015.

If approved by the County Commission on March 5, the SCAT project will finish its design phase in April, and construction will start in December 2015 — one month after the scheduled completion of the Siesta Beach renovations.

The three new bus pull-outs and shelters would all be on Beach Road, along the front of the Siesta Beach Park parking area, which will be upgraded during the renovations.

The plans also call for updated striping on crosswalks at the entrance to the beach’s parking lots, as well as upgrades to an existing bus shelter at the intersection of Beach Road and Midnight Pass Road.

Contact Nolan Peterson at [email protected]