Traffic in Holmes Beach has people in a tizzy.
And the city center congestion is expected to continue through the holidays.
City engineer Sage Kamiya told The Islander Nov. 3 that construction on city center improvements was set to continue until the end of December.
The project involves adding roadway markings, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, street lighting and landscaping to a stretch from the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives to the 5600 block of Marina Drive.
The city hired C-Squared CGC of Sarasota to complete the project for $2,753,784.55.
Commissioners also approved two addendums to the scope of work:
- $154,649.30 in July to replace infiltration trenches and a failing stormwater drainage pipe along Gulf Drive;
- $93,027 in August to replace a failing stormwater drain running through the Island Shopping Center to Marina Drive.
Kamiya said C-Squared had demolished and removed old asphalt, installed several stormwater drainage pipes under Marina Drive, added new curbing for the roadway’s edges and center island, as well as stretches of sidewalk along the corridor.
He said construction has faced some delays due to issues with a Manatee County water line, which C-Squared hit or exposed multiple times since learning its location had been improperly marked.
“Folks have called us and we, of course, tried to get everything back up and going as quick as we can but … the county has to repair that, so we’re kind of held to their schedule,” Kamiya said. “But they were pretty responsive in getting it repaired.”
The city established a detour to accommodate traffic during construction, redirecting motorists from Marina Drive and to northbound Gulf Drive or Holmes Boulevard.
The detour requires motorists to come to a stop at the intersection of Gulf Drive and Holmes Boulevard, slowing the pace of traffic previously set by the traffic light at the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives.
Congestion came to a head Oct. 31 during the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce’s Trail of Treats, when city staff was posted at the detour to guide groups of parents and their children across the busy intersection.
People reported being stuck in southbound traffic for about 45 minutes during the event.
Another spoiler. Traffic was exasperated Nov. 4 when the contractor required a day-long closure of 52nd Street — the main connector on the detour behind the Holmes Beach post office to Hancock-Whitney Bank on the corner of 52nd Street at Gulf Drive.
A morning crash on Manatee Avenue at Sixth Avenue Nov. 7 had traffic to the island backed up on Perico Island.
The contractor is no installing drainage pipes and preparing to lay foundation for new asphalt.
In the meantime, Kamiya said the city has no new plans for the detour but will monitor traffic at the intersection moving forward.
“If we need to make some adjustments, we will,” Kamiya said.
The detour was I’ll-planned however what worries me is the extremely slow pace of the work. Many days there are no workers present, other days only 2-3 workers wandering around.
The contracting company needs to really step it up.
It must have been the contractor who created this traffic flow, the police officers would probably have put the detour sign at Homes Blvd. without the Fourway stop as right turns (northbound) at that intersection would not have been a problem and southbound could easily have been directed to Gulf Drive at 56th Street, for those southbound who forgot that Marina was obstructed. Much less conflict and confusion with locals running the back streets to Holmes Blvd. trying to get ahead, in effect an urban loop for the majority of the traffic or have maintained one lane through the construction area and just detour southbound, many choices that allow flow with much less restriction.