Revised Clubhouse Drive intersection plan presented to public

Early this year, Nina Antonetti received an email from Manatee County Public Works that told her about an improvement project for Clubhouse Drive and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

The $2.2 million project included signal lights instead of the existing four-way stop. It also was adding turn lanes in each direction on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and left-turn lanes coming out of Clubhouse Drive onto Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

Since Antonetti owns the Clubhouse Drive home that is closest to Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and to the east, she was very concerned with that left-turn lane.

In order to add the turn lane, the county would have to expand the road.

"They were going to have to move the sidewalk (closer to her home), and they were going to eliminate an oak tree," she said. "When we first head about this, it seemed like a done deal. But they seemed to listen, and they went back to the drawing board."

Antonetti was talking May 22 at a public meeting hosted by Manatee County's Public Works department at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall.

"This is great," she said of the county presenting plans to the public and giving residents a chance to offer feedback. "This is a great county service."

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Among those plans was the cancellation of the turn lane coming onto Lakewood Ranch Boulevard from the east on Clubhouse Drive. There will still be a new left-hand turn lane on Clubhouse Drive coming from the west.

Antonetti said she understands why changes need to be made at the intersection. She said that although most of the time she has no problem driving onto Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, it can be nightmarish at times during rush hour.

"Tonight I almost walked the 2 miles (from her home to Lakewood Ranch Town Hall) because I didn't want to make a left-hand turn (at that intersection)," she said. "I know sometimes the police sit in front of our house, and as soon as they get there, they are pulling someone over" for running the stop sign at the intersection.

She said the changes will be important over time.

"When there are more stoplights, people are more aware," she said. "They have to be active, safer drivers."

Ogden Clark, a strategic planning manager for Manatee County, said the signal lights will improve efficiency in terms of traffic flowing through that intersection. At the current time, with a four-way stop, every car must stop at the intersection.

The new traffic signals will sync with the new light at Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Balmoral Drive through fiber optics. Because traffic coming out of the Summerfield neighborhood is limited, Clark said the traffic along Lakewood Ranch Boulevard will flow better, especially at rush hour.

He said that at the current time, traffic heading north on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, backs up at that intersection, with cars stopping hundreds of yards back, past the bridge that crosses the Braden River.

Besides signal lights and additional turn lanes, the intersection with have crosswalk signals now.

He did say that most of the day that intersection isn't a problem, but it can be a mess at rush hour.

"Twenty-thousand cars a day go through that intersection," he said.

He was pleased Antonetti said the county listened to her concerns and that she liked the public workshop.

"We had talked to community representatives and people in the neighborhood and they felt we were changing their property," he said. "The key thing now is that are are only looking at the common area and it should have no impact to private property."

He called the eliminated turn lane "the biggest hiccup we had" and was glad people were turning out to see the new plans.

"It was redesigned based on what we heard from the community," he said.

Summerfield Woods' Karen Dewey attended the meeting and said her biggest problem was people speeding through the intersection and not trying to follow the correct order.

She said it was obvious that "eventually we will need the light, and it's better we put it in now."