A Rocky Start
More than a decade ago, the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) recognized the need for expansion of the University Parkway and US 301 intersection. At the MPO's request, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) completed a project development and environment study of the intersection, which established that a costly grade-separated interchange for the design year of 2025 was needed to accommodate estimated traffic volumes. The FDOT moved the project forward despite high cost projections related to the need for substantial right-of-way acquisition and numerous business relocations. The financial burden of the project brought it to a halt in 1999.
Determined to breathe new life into the intersection project, the MPO requested that the FDOT evaluate interim improvements that could be completed for an at-grade intersection in 2001. The department's analysis showed that widening both University Parkway and US 301 from two to three through lanes and adding turn lanes to US 301 would provide adequate capacity through 2015 — approximately 17,000 vehicles per hour during peak times.
Teaming Up and Moving Forward
In 2002, the FDOT initiated a Local Agency Program (LAP) which provided additional funding and allowed the local governmental agencies to design and construct improvements to state-owned highway US 301. This set the volatile project in motion once again.
From that point, the leadership of Manatee County and the MPO agreed to take on the project yet again with the help of Wade Trim, a civil engineering and planning firm founded in Dearborn, Michigan — home of the automobile — which has provided transportation services to clients throughout the United States since 1926. Wade Trim has been providing consulting services in Florida for nearly 25 years. As the project's lead consultant, Wade Trim was responsible for all design improvements and overall project management.
The four project stakeholders — Manatee County, Sarasota County, the FDOT, and the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority — partnered to shoulder the original project costs.
Fast-Tracking Design by Sharing Information and Resources
In December 2002, Wade Trim set to work on the project's design, and it was completed and permitted within a fast-track schedule of seven months. The FDOT was instrumental in moving the project forward quickly — the department shared a complete digital terrain model and topographic survey and contributed much-needed funds that became available after the cancellation of the US 301 resurfacing project.
Wade Trim engineers were challenged to design a wider road within the existing right-of-way space — there was no funding for right-of-way acquisition, and further delays would have jeopardized vital project funding provided by the Airport Authority's Transportation Outreach Grant. Using design variations on roadway cross slopes, front ditch slopes, and median width, Wade Trim completed the design, which also included three at-grade railroad crossings, without a hitch.
The storm water permitting for the project was also handled expediently with the assistance of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Most notably, a deteriorating wetland in the right-of-way was designed to be part of the storm water management system, and off-site retention facilities were avoided.
Setting to Work
The project was bid in late 2003 with a time frame of 270 days, and bids came in at $7.5 million, almost $3 million over the engineer's estimate. Manatee County representatives and Wade Trim consultants evaluated design modifications and re-bid the project in 2005 with a 400-day time frame. Russell Engineering of Bradenton, FL, was awarded the project in September 2005 with a bid of $7,820,039. The final bid required the four partner groups to contribute additional construction funds for the project.
In 2006, Russell Engineering began construction after agency agreements had been completed and the project was fully funded.
Getting the Job Done
The University Parkway and US 301 Intersection is truly an important piece of the transportation puzzle. University Parkway is the main road taking traffic from Interstate 75 — the main north-south route for the west coast of Florida — to nearby Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
In June 2007, a determined team of professionals completed the project on schedule and within the proposed budget. Thanks to teamwork, University Parkway is now a six-lane divided arterial highway that travels along the Manatee and Sarasota county line and regularly carries more than 60,000 vehicles per day. US 301 is primarily a four-lane divided arterial highway, expanded to six lanes through the improved intersection, that is owned and operated by the FDOT. Together, University Parkway and US 301 form one of Florida's most highly traveled, well-functioning intersections.
Project stakeholders are thrilled with the final product and proud of the teamwork used to deliver valuable transportation improvements to the people of Manatee County and Sarasota County.
"This has been a significant need for over a decade for a critical urban corridor serving the two-county Manatee/Sarasota area and the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. We are very pleased with the end product and result. The regional concerted effort of the many stakeholders combined with the talented engineering professionals resulted in a valuable benefit for the entire region," said Mike Howe, executive director of the MPO.
For more information about this project, contact Jeffrey Trim at Wade Trim at 813-882-8366 or jtrim@wadetrim.com.
About the Author
Jeffrey D. Trim, PE, PTOE, has worked with Wade Trim for 22 years in the transportation engineering area. He currently serves as Wade Trim's transportation services leader and principal in charge/project manager for the planning, design, and construction of infrastructure improvement projects. His disciplines include civil engineering, transportation, storm water, utilities, and structures.
Jeff's project experience includes eight arterial projects for the Florida Department of Transportation. In addition, Jeff has served as a project manager and engineer of record for more than 10 miscellaneous FDOT projects including paved shoulders, milling and resurfacing, signalization projects, and two FDOT PD&E studies. Additional county-level experience includes serving as project manager and/or engineer of record on nine arterial final design projects, 16 arterial conceptual design projects, five final bridge designs, and three conceptual bridge designs.
