- November 22, 2024
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Love them or hate them, a dozen new roundabouts are either planned or proposed for Lakewood Ranch roads.
Manatee County's staff is negotiating with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch (Lakewood Ranch’s parent company) and the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District to construct a series of roundabouts on State Road 64, Bourneside Boulevard and University Parkway.
From the Florida Department of Transportation to county staff and private developers, the powers that be say roundabouts have tremendous safety benefits. They’re also less expensive to maintain than traffic signals, and they function despite power outages.
“SMR prefers roundabouts over signals,” said Mike Blackrick, a project engineer for LWR Development. “Roundabouts move more traffic through intersections with less violent accidents.”
Chad Butzow, Manatee County Public Works Director, said speeding is an issue on every road in the state. Roundabouts are a great way to slow drivers down. But to affect the length of the road, more than one roundabout is needed.
With plans to build 4,500 homes east of Bourneside Boulevard, SMR Taylor Ranch has agreed to also construct five roundabouts.
Taylor Ranch consists of 2,307 acres with its northern border located on the southeast corner of State Road 64 and Bourneside Boulevard. The two series of roundabouts will meet at that intersection.
Two will be built to the west on State Road 64 at the Lighterwood Trail and Uihlein Road intersections. Two will be built to the south on Bourneside Boulevard at the 44th Avenue East and Rangeland Parkway intersections.
Public Works Deputy Director Clarke Davis said the total construction costs for all five roundabouts is approximately $13.6 million. After SMR has designed and constructed the roundabouts, the county will issue impact fee credits that cover the cost.
Developers pay the county impact fees to offset the impact a new development has on the county’s infrastructure, which includes roads.
Completion dates for the five roundabouts (two on S.R. 64, one at the intersection of S.R. 64 and Bourneside, and two south of the S.R. 64-Bourneside intersection on Bourneside) range from September 2025 to May 2027.
Two additional roundabouts on Bourneside Boulevard (south of the Bourneside Boulevard-Rangeland Parkway intersection) at Lakewood National Parkway and The Masters Avenue are currently being negotiated between SMR and Manatee County.
The reimbursement agreement is not final, but the plan is the same — SMR designs and constructs the roundabouts, and Manatee County reimburses the cost through impact fee credits.
The approximate cost of those two roundabouts is $3.25 million apiece.
The first roundabout slated for University Parkway will be at the intersection where Deer Drive meets Legacy Boulevard.
The Out-of-Door Academy and the Lakewood Ranch Baptist Church on the south side of University Parkway and the entrance to the Country Club on the north side make that a particularly busy intersection for that stretch of road.
Anne Ross, executive director of the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District, said discussions with the county began with turn lanes, but a roundabout makes more sense.
The district submitted a design for the county’s review in January.
“We do not yet have a timeline for final design approval, permitting and construction,” Communications Coordinator Ogden Clark said. “Tentatively, construction could start by mid 2025.”
Butzow said an agreement would likely be presented to the Board of County Commissioners for approval this fall.
The stewardship district has also committed to build the roundabout at University Parkway and Bourneside Boulevard.
However, Blackrick said that the three roundabouts on University Parkway in between Deer Drive and Bourneside Boulevard are still proposals right now. The county has requested them to calm traffic, but the traffic studies don’t warrant them. Discussions regarding funding are ongoing.
Traffic engineers get the negotiation process started by collecting data. Either that data requires a roundabout or it doesn’t.
“Typically, when the county requests a roundabout that is not required by SMR’s traffic studies, Manatee County will fully fund it,” Blackrick said.
However, Davis said that "not required per a development traffic study" is distinctly different from “not warranted or not needed.” Based on traffic growth, the roundabouts on Bourneside Boulevard are needed because of both existing and emerging needs.
Butzow said there are several reasons why the county would override a traffic study. Speed management, traffic calming, safe left turns and plans to widen a road are among them.
“During this calendar year is when the effort is starting to four-lane those roads (Bourneside Boulevard and University Parkway),” Butzow said. “It’s certainly never a cheaper time to attempt to do roundabouts if you want to do them.”
The corridor of Bourneside Boulevard from State Road 64 to Rangeland Parkway is under construction now.
Along with the roundabouts at Lakewood National Parkway and The Masters Avenue, the reimbursement agreement to widen Bourneside Boulevard south to University Parkway is still being finalized between the county and SMR.
The same domino effect is happening on University Parkway. The stewardship district wants to widen University Parkway from Lorraine Road to Bourneside Boulevard, so county staff asked the district to look into roundabouts there, too.
"We would already be there with a contractor doing roadwork, so it wouldn't be as expensive," Ross said. "And if (the county) looks at the long term, they're going to need to put a roundabout (at Bourneside Boulevard) anyway."
