Statistics show crashes increased along with traffic on at least one route to Anna Maria Island.
Drivers on the Manatee Avenue/State Road 64 between the mainland and AMI seem to either be crawling or zooming. The crash numbers say drivers should use more caution.
Bradenton police patrols much of Manatee Avenue, including between 75th Street West in the city and the Anna Maria Island Bridge.
The BPD numbers tell a story.
Crashes responded to by a Bradenton police officer between 75th and the bridge went from three in 2018 to 25 in 2019, according to statistics furnished Jan. 7 by Jeremy Giddens of the department’s records division.
In 2017, there were four crashes, 10 in 2016 and four in 2015.
In the four past years combined, there were fewer crashes than in 2019.
The good news?
“No fatal crashes were identified during the listed time periods,” Giddens wrote Jan. 7 in an email to the newspaper.
The Islander requested the statistics as work continues on the new 123-room Compass Hotel and the 250-275 seat Floridays restaurant at One Particular Harbour on Perico Island. The development is east of the Anna Maria Island Bridge on State Road 64.
The Florida Department of Transportation last did a traffic study related to the growth at Harbour Isle — the initial development at the location — in 2011. That was before plans changed to include the OPH hotel and restaurant.
For now, the DOT says, changes at the Compass intersection are not needed.
On the road
Those who drive the route have varying opinions on the state of traffic and how the new development may impact their travel.
Debbie Wilcox has lived for four years at Harbour Isle, the Minto Communities development that shares an entryway with One Particular Harbour. Harbour Isle has 411 residences and is approved for a total of 686.
“Right now, coming out and turning left or right is really not a problem,” she told The Islander Jan. 9. “But I can’t say what it will be like in the future.”
Marcus Alford lives on the south side of Manatee Avenue at Perico Bay Club, where he is on the board of directors for the 695-unit residential development. He’s been a full-time resident there for almost two years and a visitor to AMI for 20 years.
Alford moved from Atlanta, known for massive amounts of traffic. “We’re concerned,” he told The Islander Jan. 8. “Those of us who know what’s happening are very concerned.”
Alford said he and his wife are daily commuters. He said the problem is not new business — which includes a gas station/convenience store at 75th and Manatee Avenue in addition to the Perico hotel-restaurant project — but rather the lack of infrastructure to deal with increased traffic.
“There’s only so much room on that road for third turn lanes,” he said of Manatee Avenue.
And here’s the take from Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer: “It’s dangerous right now already, coming off the bridge.”
About the opening of the new development, the chief said, “How much traffic will be generated? I don’t know.”
Still, he said, “I’d like to see a roundabout or a light at the intersection with the hotel for safety reasons.”
The city of Bradenton annexed the area that became Harbour Isle and One Particular Harbour in the early 2000s and the BPD patrols Manatee Avenue from 75th Street west to the Anna Maria Island Bridge.
On the bridge, the Florida Highway Patrol has jurisdiction and, west of the bridge, HBPD patrols — though responders nearest an incident answer the initial call.
Tokajer said Holmes Beach officers often work incidents on the bridge “just to clear the traffic congestion in a timely manner.” “Traffic often backs up into town under normal circumstances,” the chief said. “A crash can really back it up.”
“We just don’t know yet how much of an impact there will be and we won’t know until the hotel is up and running.”
Isn’t it totally amazing that there is more traffic on SR64 leading to the Island? It certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with Bradenton allowing more homes, and soon a large hotel right before the bridge. What is wrong with the commissioner’s thinking? It is called a total lack of common sense.
So apparently they’re just going to wait and see what happens, which seems to be the way Florida works. Anything to help the developers while the residents suffer the consequences. Trying to go to AMI from Perico Bay Club is too often a game of chance with potentially serious consequences. Somewhere along the way, they need to break up the traffic to allow residents along Manatee Ave between 75th and the bridge. These are things that well-run communities and governances do to prevent the inevitable. Yeah, let’s wait and see, then do endless studies and run all of the objections through the courts, where the developers with deep pockets will inevitably win. Senseless.