VENICE — Probably the most welcome news in a Sarasota County public meeting about improvements to Pinebrook Road was that there won't be a roundabout at the intersection with Ridgewood Avenue.
And probably the least welcome was that Ridgewood won't be a thru-road in the future, under the county's current plans.
According to the county's presentation at the meeting, there were 26 crashes reported at the intersection from 2019 to 2023. All but one occurred during daylight hours in clear conditions, it says.
That's not a "super high" number of crashes, but the goal is zero, said Richard Uptegraff, an engineer with Patel, Greene & Associates LLC.
Pinebrook Road has seen increasing traffic since the opening of Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice, and often is backed up from East Venice Avenue north.
Under the county's plan, vehicles traveling east or west on Ridgewood toward Pinebrook Road would only be allowed to make a right turn. That eliminates "conflict points," he said.
The ability for northbound vehicles to turn left into Pinebrook Plaza and southbound vehicles to turn left into Fifth Third Bank will also go away.
It's not possible to put a traffic signal at the intersection, he said, because it's too close to East Venice Avenue.
Motorists who want to go in the opposite direction on Pinebrook will need to make a U-turn, Uptegraff said.
Alternatively, they could use the network of roads on the north side of East Venice Avenue to find one that would allow them to turn in the direction they want to go, he said.
One remote attendee expressed concern about the potential impact on Elaine Street, the first street west of Pinebrook Road, which motorists could use to get to Karen Street to the north, to turn either direction onto Pinebrook.
Unlike Pinebrook Road, those streets are the city's responsibility, county Director of Capital Projects Carolyn Eastwood said. County staff can approach the city about putting crosswalks on those streets for safety but the decision would be the city's.
Turn lanes, sidewalks and more
The intersection with East Venice Avenue, which is the actual focus of the project, is scheduled for some major changes, including additional left- and right-turn lanes at each approach, along with sidewalks, bike lanes, lighting and new signals.
Pinebrook Road will be widened to four lanes and improved from south of Aston Gardens Drive to north of Ridgewood Avenue.
There will also be a traffic-counting device on Pinebrook to monitor vehicle speed and classifications, Uptegraff said, but not for law enforcement.
None of these changes will be made in the immediate future.
Uptegraff said the design isn't expected to be finalized until February — it's at about 60% now — with land acquisition taking about a year after that.
And the project isn't yet fully funded, he said, but the total cost won't be known until the plans are done anyway. At that point the project will be in the county's five-year capital improvement program.
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