Honore traffic hazards cause concern

Ruth Slotnick is not terrified to cross the road, but she’s certainly cautious.

Each time she steps onto the corner of Grand Point and Honore avenues near her Mote Ranch home, she faces a memory from two years ago — Nov. 4, 2015 — when she was struck by a car while crossing the intersection with her dog, Tobey.

“I went up to the corner and had to wait for traffic,” Slotnick said. “I was three-quarters the way across with the dog and this car gooses it and cuts the corner. I threw the leash over the car — the dog got away — and (the driver) slammed right into me.”

Slotnick and her neighbors are anxious to find a solution to improve traffic conditions on Honore Avenue, a road designated by Manatee County as a future, four-lane roadway meant to provide an alternative route to motorists in that area.

They worry if a proposed development farther south, along Honore Avenue and adjacent to the Evers Reservoir, is approved, it will not only worsen traffic conditions, but will be dangerous.

“As bad as it is today, you don’t want it to get worse,” said Ruth Slotnick’s husband, Don.

The concerns of Mote Ranch residents have been long standing. An informal group of residents started working with county officials to address traffic woes about a year ago, and they do not feel like sufficient progress has been made, said Sue Sweeney, a member of the group.

Their concerns were brought into the public spotlight Nov. 2 during the Manatee County Commission land-use meeting. Representatives of the city of Bradenton and homebuilder Taylor Morrison requested to change the county’s future land-use for a 200-acre parcel just west of the Evers Reservoir from public/semi-public to residential with up to six units per acre. The change must be approved by the state before the county will consider site plans for the proposed community.

Residents say they worry more development will compound existing traffic woes.

Days before the hearing, Sweeney and 20 other concerned residents went door to door, seeking signatures on a petition to oppose the proposed development, which they believe would increase traffic on Honore Avenue. They also worry about the new community having its only points of ingress and egress off Honore Avenue.

Sweeney said they collected 1,000 signatures.

At the land use meeting, residents don’t want the development to be approved, and regardless, they say conditions on Honore Avenue must be addressed. They said speeding is excessive, traffic backs up unreasonably at certain times of day, and there are blind curves in the road that create unsafe conditions. They also said drivers don’t yield to pedestrians, and there’s not enough breaks in the traffic flow for pedestrians to feel safe as they cross.

Sweeney said Sarasota County, south of University Parkway, has eight roundabouts along Honore Avenue that slow traffic. But in Manatee between University Parkway and Lockwood Ridge, there’s a single stop sign north of the light at Cooper Creek Boulevard.

“We’ve had people so harassed (for going the speed limit) they’ve been followed home,” Sweeney said.

Mote Ranch’s Wendy Dendel said adding more stop signs or traffic signals on Honore would improve safety for residents. They might be annoying for motorists in a hurry, but they would also slow and provide breaks in traffic flow.

Residents said whenever flashing speed signs or traffic patrols are conducted on Honore, there is improvement. However, both scenarios are short-lived.

Manatee County transportation officials have evaluated conditions around Mote Ranch at the request of residents.

Sage Kamiya, deputy director of traffic management for Manatee County, said his staff has conducted a study at the intersections of Honore Avenue at both Sandstone Avenue and Gold Rush Lane, at the request of a Mote Ranch resident, to see if all-way stop signs were warranted. They weren’t.

“We also found that there are intersection warning signs, with 20 mph advisory speeds, approaching these intersections to indicate the presence of a cross-street and the possibility of turning or entering traffic,” Kamiya said. “We informed them that we will not be installing a multiway stop at this time.”

However, the county will schedule the deployment of speed feedback radar trailers to remind motorists to slow down.

The county also eventually plans to construct a sidewalk on the north side of Honore Avenue from Palomino Circle to Magnolia Ridge and add a marked pedestrian crossing to its list of sidewalk projects up for consideration as part of the five-year capital improvement plan development.

Residents said improved pedestrian crossings could help — although they need them at other locations — but that’s not enough to solve their problems.

“We’ve seen the traffic worsen. We can’t get out (of our neighborhoods),” resident Roxanne Moore said.