Key Tara intersection becomes a four-way stop

It’s been six years since the initial request, but the Manatee County Commission has approved the installation of a four-way stop at the intersection of Tara Boulevard and Tara Preserve Lane.

Local residents were steadfast in the pursuit of additional stop signs (it currently is a two-way stop) as they say they were alarmed by the amount of speeding cars and wrecks in their neighborhood.

“From Day 1, all we asked for was a four-way stop — two more $200 signs, that’s all,” Tara Preserve Board Chairman Darby Connor said. “Instead, it turns out better. We got speed bumps. We got flashing lights. We got this and that, but still people come down here like heck blasting through.” 

Connor has lived in Tara Preserve for 20 years. He remembered Tara Boulevard when it was dirt. He started noticing problems with speeding around 2012, but said the influx of new residents since the COVID-19 pandemic caused traffic and speeding issues to become exponentially worse. 

Before the stop signs were approved, speed tables and a crosswalk were installed. While standing on the corner, eight-year Owl’s Nest resident Marian Murdoch pointed out a car speeding through the crosswalk as the lights flashed yellow.

“He’s not even slowing down,” she said. 

Connor added, “Yellow means ‘go.’ Everybody runs flashers.” 

The cost for the additional stop signs is approximately $2,700 with an annual cost of $250 for maintenance and repairs. It’s a small investment that could feasibly save residents much more than $3,000 once installed. Connor said a recent claim for property damage cost a woman $1,600, and that’s a minor claim out of multiple insurance claims filed. 

So why did it take six years?

District Five Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said the county didn’t want a stop sign there because drivers tend to stop when they’re first installed but are quickly blowing through them. Her personal preference would have been a traffic light or a roundabout. 

“I’m the roundabout queen. I’ll admit it,” Baugh said. “They’re effective.” 

Connor disagreed and noted the four-way stop on Honore Avenue by BJ’s in Sarasota. 

“They all stop. I’ve never seen anybody run it,” he said. “But I’ll drive down Ranch Lake Boulevard, and they’re running the red lights all the time.” 

Traffic studies aren’t required every time a stop sign is hammered into the ground, but due to the debate, this intersection was studied first. A county traffic investigation and multi-way stop study determined that the intersection didn’t meet the Florida Department of Transportation's criteria for traffic volume or crashes that warrant a four-way stop. 

However, according to the report presented to the Board of County Commissioners, Tara Elementary School being located only 1,000 feet away met the criteria of “the need to control vehicle/pedestrian conflicts near locations that generate high pedestrian volumes, such as schools.”   

According to the group of neighbors, Tara Preserve used to have an older population, but the community has welcomed more young families in recent years. School children are crossing Tara Boulevard at that intersection more frequently than ever before, and they are not provided with crossing guards.  

"Marion (Murdoch) and I have almost gotten hit here several times," Owl's Nest resident Karen Cardozo said. 

Residents are happy and semi-hopeful that the stop signs, combined with prior measures, will slow drivers down. But they’ve seen too many accidents to not be left with some doubts. 

“In a development, and you have fatalities, that shouldn’t happen,” Murdoch said somberly. 

Still, she and her fellow neighbors agree that the county has done all they can for now until the whole of Tara Boulevard is addressed. The county has proposed projects for calming traffic on Tara, but nothing has been funded yet.