Will Upper Manatee River Road improvements ease congestion?

Traffic on Upper Manatee River Road has become so congested during rush hours, Gates Creek resident Cheryl Phelps said she wants to move out of the area.

“You don’t have a life here during the week,” she said. 

While Manatee County is widening the road from two lanes to four from State Road 64 to the Fort Hamer Bridge, Phelps doesn’t see the congestion easing any time soon, especially in light of two new developments approved by the county commission in October.

UMR Sports was approved to build 232 apartments on the south side of the bridge, and Carlos Beruff’s North River Land LLC was approved to build 496 residential units and 300,000 square feet of commercial on the north side of the bridge. 

Phelps figures each residence will add another two cars to the road, and residences with teenagers will add even more.

“The traffic will flow through here,” she said. “Then, it’s going to stop at the bridge.”

The Fort Hamer Bridge is still two lanes and so is Fort Hamer Road on the other side of the bridge. Phelps fears a bottleneck will occur when trying to merge four lanes into two.

She already struggles to get out of her neighborhood during rush hour traffic, especially when she has to turn left. When Phelps needs to be somewhere, she’s learned to leave her home early, which is the same advice Commissioner George Kruse offered all residents in the area.

“This is your life now," Kruse said. "Adjust it accordingly. At no point is Fort Hamer Road or Upper Manatee River Road going to widen to six lanes. We don’t have the capacity to take more right of way unless we start taking people’s actual homes and businesses.”

Construction on Upper Manatee River Road is underway now and is expected to be completed by fall 2027. Ogden Clark, Public Works’ communications coordinator, said the widening will ease some of the congestion.

“Upper Manatee River Road has more access points than just the Fort Hamer Bridge,” Clark said in an email. “Widening Upper Manatee River Road will improve traffic flows south of the bridge for motorists traveling to and from the East-West portion of Upper Manatee River Road, as well as the neighborhoods along the North-South portion of the roadway.”

Kruse called the widening a “Bandaid” because the county doesn’t have the money to also fund widening the bridge and Fort Hamer Road. He estimates the cost to widen both at about $200 million. 

Between commissioners declining to claim special circumstances in order to collect additional impact fees in August and then lowering the millage in September, Kruse said the county will have to rely on the state to four-lane the bridge and road.

“We just bonded another $140 million, which strains our bonding capacity and our cash flow because now we’ve got another $4 million a year in debt service,” Kruse said. “We don’t have $200 million, and even if we did, we cannot move all of our money to one road because of development.” 

Kruse said he voted against Beruff’s project because it was too high in density, but voted in favor of the UMR Sports’ project because it fell in line with the county’s guidelines. The project proposed less units than is allowed in the Future Land Use Map and includes recreational green space. 

“We can’t fight things to fight things,” Kruse said. “There’s a Comprehensive Plan, a Land Development Code and a Future Land Use Map that we are required by law and Florida Statute to adhere to.” 

Before Beruff's project was approved, residents had the same question for commissioners: Have you driven Fort Hamer Road? The consistent complaint was that it takes between 15 to 20 minutes to drive one mile. 

Kruse and Commissioner Jason Bearden were the two dissenting votes. 

The bridge and Fort Hamer Road are both owned by the county, but staff members are looking outside the county to help fund each project. 

So far, the state has funded $5.5 million to cover studies and designs to widen the bridge and road to four lanes up to US 301. 

Commissioners also approved the submission of a grant application to the United States Department of Transportation Bridge Investment Program on Oct. 22. 

If awarded, the grant would cover 80% of the estimated cost of $77 million to build a second span. USDOT would pay $61.6 million; Manatee County would pay $15.4 million. 

The county’s share would come from gas taxes and impact fees over a three-year period starting in FY2026. Construction would begin in fall 2028. 

A $1.2 million project development and environmental study on Fort Hamer Road is expected to be complete in June 2025.

The design of the road is also funded, but right-of-way acquisitions and construction are not funded at this time. 

Clark said state funding is justified because the roadway provides another north-south evacuation route and supports the interstate system by alleviating traffic.