Major construction projects coming to I-75 and State Road 70 in Sarasota-Manatee
A new traffic pattern set to shake up one of Sarasota’s highway interchanges will see construction start within the next year, according to a new project timeline released by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Construction to update Fruitville Road’s Interstate 75 interchange and widen part of State Road 70 is set to break ground next fall, per the new schedule. The projects are part of the governor’s Moving Florida Forward infrastructure initiative — a $7 billion undertaking to expedite the most critical construction.
Announced by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January, the initiative was proposed as a means to accommodate the exponential uptick of drivers that Florida roadways have seen in the past year. The initiative assigns a definitive start date to 20 projects that previously had no certain timeline.
More: Sarasota Schools breaks ground on K-8 near east of I-75, first new school in 15 years
In Sarasota and Manatee counties — which have combined for more than 9,500 traffic crashes this year, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles — the priority is in areas where congestion is heaviest. The two counties fall under the Department of Transportation’s District One, which includes nine other counties in Southwest Florida.
With $192 million in construction costs, Fruitville Road’s interchange will transition from a partial cloverleaf design to a diverging diamond interchange, a newer design now featured near the University Town Center. The diamond model redirects traffic to the left side of the road to maintain flow onto the highway and through surrounding roads — its crisscross pattern allows opposing lanes to skirt around each other instead of fighting to cross in a turn lane.
Sarasota’s first diverging diamond interchange arrived in 2017 on University Avenue. A second at the Clark Road interchange is slated for completion early next year.
More: Five things to know about diverging diamond interchanges in Sarasota-Manatee
The construction will widen two miles of both I-75, from Palmer Boulevard to just north of Fruitville Road, and Fruitville Road, from Honore Avenue to just east of Coburn Road. It will add auxiliary lanes to the six-lane highway and replace the existing bridges over Fruitville Road.
In Manatee County, S.R. 70 will become four lanes from Bourneside Boulevard to Waterbury Road. The $53 million project will also include improvements to intersections along the road and cyclist and pedestrian provisions.
District One secretary L.K. Nandam said both projects will alleviate the areas’ congestion issues and promote efficiency.
“It’s our answer to the relentless calls, resonating needs, and palpable urgency of our time,” Nandam said in a press release.
More: How Sarasota-Manatee traffic has changed since before the pandemic
The local changes add to 18 other improvement projects across the state, including interchange modifications along Interstate 4, Interstate 95, and other stops along I-75. The projects do not have an estimated end date.
Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Work set for Interstate 75 Fruitville Road interchange and S.R. 70
