Letters to the Editor

+ Fort Hamer Bridge not ‘the final piece’
Dear Editor,
Your article “Fort Hamer Bridge Satisfies NEPA Permit Requirements, (East County Observer, July 10, 2014): A sidebar, to this story, entitled “Bridge Basics” states “Manatee County considers the bridge the final piece in the long-planned 44th Avenue extension, which connects Cortez Road and its nearby beaches in the west to Lakewood Ranch and the surrounding area, in the east.”

A casual look at the map would reveal that the 44th Avenue extension will reach the Braden River, which lies between it and Lakewood Ranch. Does the county plan a ferry? A catapult? Are there plans to pave the Braden River, about which we are unaware?  

Those of us who live along 45th Street (which after widening from two lanes to four will serve as the “temporary terminus” of 44th Avenue, providing a link to Lakewood Ranch via a left turn onto State Road 70) have been assured that 44th Avenue will eventually cross the Braden River to directly connect with Lakewood Ranch.

Thus, it is hard to understand how the Fort Hamer bridge, which has no immediate connection to the 44th Avenue extension, can be the “final piece” of anything.
David Sadkin,
Bradenton