North Port Sun Sumter Boulevard widening to start in fall By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH North Port Community News Editor NORTH PORT — When you exit Interstate 75 onto Sumter Boulevard, you are treated to a winding, landscaped and well-lighted road, complete with a sidewalk. But not once you cross Price Boulevard. That’s where you hit the old two-lane bumpy road for the next mile and a half. Plans for widening the section of Sumter from the 7-Eleven to Heron Creek Golf & Country Club have been in place since 2007. The 1.67-mile stretch of road riddled with potholes is often exacerbated by a few hours of rain. The narrow roadway also services two Sarasota County Area Transit bus stops. Earlier this year, the city received a State Infrastructure Bank loan for $10 million to finish Sumter, which is one of North Port’s evacuation routes. The city anticipates starting on the final phase by the end of the year. The design will mirror the rest of Sumter’s design elements, with 8-foot-wide sidewalks, pedestrian signs, lighting, irrigation and landscaping, covered bus shelters and stamped concrete turn lanes. “Right now we are working on acquiring right of way and temporary easement along Sumter,” said Branford Adumuah, Public Works director. “There are different landowners along Sumter Boulevard. The majority of them have worked with us to store construction equipment on their land. They have already been paid. The 7-Eleven Corp. is concerned about the impact to their business. Things are going very well and we are moving forward.” Once the land acquisition issues are complete, the commission would vote on the contract. Construction can begin by October or November, he said. It will last about a year. “We will have a pre-construction meeting with whatever company is awarded the bid to talk about how traffic will be rerouted,” Adumuah said. “It’s premature to say how traffic will be diverted during construction. There may be someone at each end of the roadway stopping traffic. Once we award the bid, it’s out of our hands. The contractor is in charge of the process. We will make sure they do everything possible to minimize the impact of construction on drivers.” The city has been working on widening Sumter for more than a decade. Years ago, former commissioners shot down the idea of asking voters if they wanted to pay higher Road and Drainage rates to widen Sumter which included costly bridge work. Later, the city secured a local bond, as well as regional, state and federal funding and used transportation impact fee (money generated by new-home and commercial businesses construction in North Port) revenues for the $27 million project, which includes a linear park with decorative landscaping, sidewalks, benches, gazebos and lamp posts. Updates on the final phase of the project will be posted on the city’s website at cityofnorthport. For more information, call the city’s Public Works Department at 941-240-8050. Email: eallen@sun-herald
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 22:38:53 +0000
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