MANATEE

Manatee County Commission considers roundabouts for two major thoroughfares

Dale White
dale.white@heraldtribune.com
Manatee County officials are considering installing a roundabout at the intersection of Balmoral Woods Boulevard and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. Residents exiting from the Country Club subdivision complain that increasing traffic through the intersection makes it difficult for them to turn left and head south on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. [HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF PHOTO / DALE WHITE]

MANATEE COUNTY — Although sales taxes, impact fees and gas taxes are now largely pledged toward other road projects, the Manatee County Commission asked its Public Works staff on Tuesday to explore converting several intersections on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Honore Avenue into roundabouts.

The crossroads discussed include Honore Avenue at Old Farm Road and Cooper Creek Boulevard and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard at Clubhouse Drive, Balmoral Woods Boulevard and Water Crest Way.

Although those intersections do not have high rates of accidents, residents relying on those two north-south thoroughfares complain about increasing traffic making it difficult to exit their neighborhoods.

About $576,000 from a voter-approved sales tax for infrastructure is set aside for intersection improvements at Honore and Cooper Creek. Otherwise no funding is available for any other work on those thoroughfares unless other projects are deleted from the county’s capital improvements plan.

Sage Kamiya, the county’s deputy director of traffic management, said signalizing an intersection can cost more than $500,000. A two-lane roundabout is the more expensive option with a possible $2.3 million price tag.

“You basically have to reconstruct the entire roadway” and acquire right of way for a roundabout, Kamiya said.

Yet roundabouts are considered safer than intersections with stop signs or traffic signals, he noted.

A typical intersection can have “32 conflict points” where vehicles could collide, Kamiya said. A roundabout has eight conflict points, which are typically the cause of sideswipes rather than severe crashes with injuries.

Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said an added advantage of roundabouts is that drivers use slower speeds to negotiate the circles. Even with slower speeds, drivers tend to need seven to eight seconds to get through a roundabout compared with the eight to 10 seconds for a conventional intersection – causing less congestion, Kamiya said.

Commissioner Stephen Jonsson said the county needs to start planning for roundabouts before roads are built rather than retrofit the roads later at a higher cost. Commission Chairwoman Priscilla Whisenant Trace said the board will need to examine its capital improvements plan in a future meeting to determine whether it wants to alter any priorities.

In a separate discussion, Financial Management Director Jan Brewer updated commissioners about the $393.6 million the county retains in reserves.

Those dollars include amounts equaling 20 percent of every fund and department operating budget that is set aside for emergencies, such as recovery from a hurricane. It also includes money reserved for anticipated expenses, such as $8.1 million for beach erosion projects and $48.4 million that will eventually be needed for closing the Lena Road landfill and maintaining it after its closure.

The damage that Hurricane Michael recently caused in the Panhandle is an example of why a local government needs to maintain reserves, Brewer told commissioners.

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