Drivers of the Palma Sola Scenic Highway could deliver a request to the state this spring.
The Palma Sola Scenic Highway Committee met Feb. 9 to discuss projects dealing with the scenic highway, which is the stretch of State Road 64/Manatee Avenue between 75th Street West in Bradenton and East Bay Drive in Holmes Beach.
For years, the committee has worked to extend the scenic highway in Holmes Beach.
The extension would run from the intersection of State Road 64/Manatee Avenue and State Road 789/East Bay Drive in Holmes Beach west to the entrance of the Manatee Public Beach at the intersection of Manatee Avenue and Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach.
The extension also would run south along on East Bay Drive to 27th Street in Bradenton Beach. That is the point where the 3-mile Bradenton Beach Scenic Highway begins.
The committee has work to complete before delivering a revised extension request to the state, including addressing comments and questions from staff with the Florida Department of Transportation, which administers the state scenic highways program.
The program, in its 25th year and involving 27 scenic highways across the state, is intended to celebrate Florida’s resources and inspire tourism.
The Palma Sola Scenic Highway earned its designation in May 2004.
Darryl Richard, landscape architect with the DOT, said a state board could consider the Palma Sola extension request in June.
Before then, committee chair Ingrid McClellan said the Palma Sola group would seek support letters from local officials.
In other business, the committee:
- Responded to a question about the lack of crossings on the scenic highway. Richard said the DOT might consider ways to improve pedestrian safety as it advances the new Anna Maria Island Bridge project.
McClellan responded, “That’s 10 years out” and Richard said the project could be moved up with federal investments in infrastructure.
- Approved an annual report on the scenic highway for submission to the DOT.
- Reviewed maintenance and cleanup efforts on the scenic highway, including involving students and artists in a campaign to repaint waste receptacles, monitoring a homeless camp on the east end of the causeway and trimming overgrown vegetation on both sides of Manatee Avenue before “spring break” season.
The next meeting will be at 3:30 p.m. April 13, at the Bradenton public works building, 1411 Ninth St. W.