VENICE, Fla. - Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sarasota County leaders cut the ribbon Friday on a $61 million project that expanded River Road from two to six lanes between U.S. 41 and Interstate 75.
Sarasota County traffic relief
What they're saying:
A long-awaited project to expand River Road connecting Venice and North Port is officially complete after decades of planning. The state stepped in following the COVID-19 pandemic to help fund and accelerate transformations on critical local roadways. Sarasota County agreed to transfer River Road to the state, with both sharing the $61 million total cost between local and state funding.
"I just want people to get from point a to point b., and I want to reduce traffic anywhere we can. I didn’t believe in building trains. That doesn’t work in Florida. It doesn’t. You must look to see where you need to have wider roads and additional roads. You just need to do that," said Governor Ron DeSantis.
Tripling the capacity of River Road gives major relief to local commuters traveling between Venice, North Port, Englewood, and Charlotte Counties and during storm evacuations.
"To the south of us you have Englewood, parts of Port Charlotte, Grove City, Boca Grande, Placida. All those areas down there use this road to go to work and more importantly to get to the interstate if we have a hurricane. Obviously, if we have one, you can see from these charts behind me, we will open all 6 lanes north. I think we will be able to move traffic out of the troubled areas faster than we have ever been able to before," said Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman.
Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said historic flooding on the Myakka River after Hurricane Ian proved how critical River Road is as a detour route.
"It’s a great example of partnerships but also thinking differently to get things done. This project has been planned for over 20 something years now. Just sitting there waiting for funding, we found out after hurricane Ian just how important River Road is. If you remember, we had historic flooding of the Myakka River. River Road is the last exit to get off before you go over that bridge. We needed a detour route. River Road could have been that detour route. This project is going to make it available for hurricane evacuations and detours. Heaven forbid, if we ever have another bad hurricane, we are going to have the solution," said Perdue.
Traffic safety upgrades installed
The backstory:
River Road was a historically dangerous two-lane stretch that saw several traffic deaths over the years. Beyond adding blacktop lanes, crews added 10-foot multi-use paths for pedestrians and bicyclists along with upgraded lighting. Advanced crosswalk technology and speed monitoring systems were also installed to keep travelers safe.
To protect local ecology, workers constructed two dedicated wildlife underpasses. These tunnels allow deer, raccoons and other animals to cross beneath traffic without stepping onto the busy road.
Speed enforcement on River Road
What's next:
Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman warned drivers that law enforcement will strictly enforce speed limits along the newly paved stretch. Hoffman noted that drivers are already speeding down the fresh 7-mile straightaway.
‘This is fresh blacktop. It’s about 7 miles straight away. I live on the other side of it. I travel every morning. I see that we are already having trouble with people who are speeding. Today we had some of our motor officers out here. We will have traffic officers out here who will be regularly monitoring this," said Sheriff Hoffman.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon from Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman during a project completion ceremony in Venice.