By Kathy Prucnell and Terry O’Connor
One of four options in May is now the choice of the Florida Department of Transportation to solve the 119th Street bottleneck on State Road 684/Cortez Road.
DOT District 1 director David Gwynn told the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization board June 19 the state and county are working together to realign the intersection through the Florida Maritime Museum property.
The 17-member board reviews and recommends regional transportation plans.
The museum property at the intersection’s southeast corner and is owned by Manatee County.
The north and south legs of 119th Street intersect the state highway, Cortez Road West, about 200 feet apart, and the configuration is widely blamed for barrier island and beach-destined traffic problems during peak tourist season.
“For all involved, it’s the best solution,” said Jane von Hahmann, on hearing Gwynn’s announcement to the MPO. She said it was important for the safety of the fishing village.
Von Hahmann is a former Manatee County commissioner and vice president of the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage. She lives and owns commercial property on the southwest corner of the intersection.
FISH is a 180-member nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of the fishing village, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995.
Gwynn said the realignment would take at least two years to build and approval is needed to use the county property. He hopes to receive approval in the next six months.
Gwynn previously recommended a Longboat Key-backed option that favored relief for traffic heading to the mainland from the key. Under that plan, signalization would eliminate left turns at 119th Street and provide a continuous flow of eastbound traffic on Cortez Road through the intersection.
With the alignment option, Gwynn said the DOT will need approval from a state board to use the land for right of way.
When the county acquired the property in 1999 with a Florida Communities Trust grant, the state imposed a deed restriction limiting the property’s use to conservation, protection and enhancement of natural and historical resources.
“I heard a meeting last week was positive,” Manatee County Commission Chair Betsy Benac said about a meeting between the DOT, the county and the Florida Communities Trust board.
The first plan “made a lot of people concerned in the village of Cortez. Hopefully, the strategy will work,” she added.
County Commissioner Steve Jonsson, representing Cortez and Anna Maria Island, said the progress was “a good thing from the public-safety standpoint.”
“I was really excited to hear today they’ve chosen realignment. I’ve lived here 40 years and go out to Cortez a lot. Their initial proposal was really bad,” he said.
After the MPO meeting, Gwynn explained the DOT and county representatives went before the state board June 15, and the board decided to consider modifying the deed restriction if it can be shown “there is no other reasonable alternative,” it is “good for safety” and there could be comparable property for the deed restriction to encumber.
A county-owned drainage easement, on the east side of the museum property, is being considered for the swap, Gwynn said.
Leading up to the decision was a DOT hearing in May attended by more than 150 people, where the alternatives were presented and public comment taken on the project, which is budgeted for $3.7 million.
“I think they got enough people saying at the meeting that it’s not just about people going off the island,” von Hahmann said.
Views from Cortezians and other mainland residents clashed with those from Longboat Key, including Mayor Terry Gans, who favored the plan that would allow a continuous flow of eastbound traffic.
If such an alternative is implemented by DOT, von Hahmann said vehicles would seek other routes through the village and jeopardize their safety and pedestrian safety by turning left at other streets where there are no traffic lights.