Manatee Avenue Road Work to Continue Through Late Fall

Motorists traveling west on Manatee Avenue through downtown Bradenton will have to endure several more months of construction barriers and traffic backups.

So will it be worth it? That’s what some are asking about the Florida Department of Transportation road improvement project under way from 12th Street East to 15th Street West.

“It may be a little inconvenient for my customers,” said Brice Hoopingarner, owner of , “but in the end it’ll be worth it.”

Before the construction started earlier this year, the traffic would speed past his business at 817 Manatee Ave. W. if the light at Ninth Street West were red, he said.

But since the flashing lights and construction barrels went up, the traffic has slowed down considerably.

“We need to calm it down,” he said. “That’ll be great.”

Along with resurfacing the roadway, the $5.7 million project calls for major drainage improvements and extensive streetscaping.

Although motorists who travel that corridor have been dealing with the construction for months, a lot of changes are already evident along Manatee Avenue.

“We’ve got quite a bit going on,” said Maricelle Venegas, FDOT spokeswoman for the project.

On Monday, work crews started the final paving of the road from 12th to First streets east, Venegas said.

She said the crews are working from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. and should be completed with that portion of the project by the end of the week.

Except for some final touches, the remainder of the work will be from First Street to 15th Street West, where major stormwater and water lines are being installed.

Motorists have had to deal with left or right lanes being closed while crews dig up the old pipelines and replace them with new 12-inch water mains.

With most of that work completed, the final five blocks to have new stormwater and water lines installed start from the Manatee County Administration Building to 15th Street West.

Venegas said except for finding some old lines that were not indicated on the plans, the work has proceeded with minimal problems.

“They have to be careful when digging and look for abandoned utilities lines,” she said.

Just last week the a sewage line was hit, but the workers quickly put a temporary patch on the pipe until City of Bradenton Public Works crews could make permanent repairs, Venegas said.

Jim McLellan, engineering section manager for the city said the state contractor has been extremely cooperative.

“On projects of this size there are a lot of buried utility lines,” McLellan said. “Some are easy to locate, others are hard to find.”

Some of the pipes being replaced were installed in the 1930s, he said.

The water main being installed is a 12-inch PVC pipe, which will increase the capacity four times.

As for the progress being made, McLellan said he thought things were moving along pretty well.

“You always like projects to move faster,” he said, “but with what they found and had to deal with I think they’re doing the best they can.”

The contractor, Gibbs & Register, Inc., of Winter Garden, is expected to complete the project sometime in the late fall, Venegas said.

Venegas said the roadway milling and resurfacing from Frist Street to the railroad tracks at about Sixth Street West are scheduled to begin within weeks, then move on to Ninth Street West, completing another section of the project.

The streetscaping along both sides of the roadway include new sidewalks, curbing, parking cutouts, trees and landscaping and new lampposts.