- November 2, 2024
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Manatee County commissioners were hoping to hoping to strike gold for their constituents during a trip last week to Washington, D.C.
On the four-day trip, they were hoping to make a positive impression to line up federal government funding for three main projects, the Fort Hamer Bridge, the Pearce Drain Watershed, and the Gateway Greenway Multipurpose Trail.
“We have a new lobbyist this year—Ballard Partners," said Vanessa Baugh, Manatee County's District 5 Commissioner. "It was the best trip, during my term, that I’ve ever seen.”
Baugh was first elected in 2012, so Ballard Partners obviously made a huge impression.
"They walked us to death, but it was very good," Baugh said. "We met with so many congressmen and senators.”
Before arriving, Congressman Vern Buchanan already had submitted the county’s requests to the Appropriations Committee. According to the Constitution, “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
So the commissioners’ job was to talk up their projects.
“The biggest — our No. 1 priority — is the Fort Hamer Bridge,” Baugh said.
Residents in the area have long complained that the first bridge (opened in 2017) caused traffic congestion, attracting too much traffic for a two-lane road. The funding request cites the bridge as “a critical component of the Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Upper Manatee River Road and Fort Hamer Road corridor that will span East Manatee County.”
By the time Baugh was elected in 2012, the first bridge was already designated to be built. With only two lanes, it was at capacity the day it opened in 2017. Manatee County Strategic Planning Manager Ogden Clark said it was “a given” that a second bridge had to be built.
Along with another span, commissioners have approved the widening of Upper Manatee River Road to four lanes so that four lanes of bridge traffic can flow in each direction.
“We’ve got to get ahead of this," Baugh said. "With the $3 million, we’ll have money to do the PD&E, which is the design. We have to see how much right-of-way we have to buy. We bought a house already that we needed, but we’ll only need part of it. Once we get that part done, we’ll turn around and resell the house.”
The county is looking at approximately five to six years to get the project completed.
“We have a wastewater situation that we need to take care of," Baugh said. "We have an area in District 4 called Centre Lake, and it floods. So we came up with a plan where we can have a wastewater facility, where the water will drain, and if we do it right, it will help not only that area, but it will help the whole of Manatee County to drain into that system.”
The county already purchased a vacant property at 6525 33rd St. E. that was needed for the project. It’s located next to the Pearce Drain within the Pearce Drain Watershed. The $3 million request for federal funds is for the construction of a 50 acre-foot facility, which will provide additional flood volume storage and water quality treatment to the watershed.
“A lot of people ride their bikes to and from work, but we really don’t have safe ways, in most cases, to ride bikes” Baugh said. “It’s a $2.9 million request, and it’s basically to start the trails. We have trails that will go north, south, east, west, and eventually, we will go all the way out to Titusville, so it’s a huge endeavor.”
Lakewood Ranch already has trails that will work into the system. If granted, the federal request will cover planning, design and environmental studies for the segment connecting Lincoln Park in Palmetto to Ola May Sims Park in Parrish.
The county is working with Florida Power and Light and CSX Transportation to identify unused utility corridors and railroad tracks. Along with county road rights of way, the plan is to make that segment a dedicated off-road trail.
All the requests for federal funds have to make their way through the Appropriations Committee, and Baugh is hoping for positive news from that committee sometime between August and December.
