Another portion of the 44th Avenue East expansion project is now complete as work continues to provide a much-needed alternate east-west thoroughfare in Manatee County.
As of Friday, all four lanes of 44th Avenue East are completed and open west to 62nd Avenue. This includes bridge crossings over Gap Creek and the Braden River.
Road construction remains ongoing, with the final portion of the project expected to deliver a much-need alternative for local traffic to cross over I-75.
“I am excited about this,” Manatee County District Five Commissioner Ray Turner said in a statement provided by e. “We are in desperate need of an east-west thoroughfare that will ease traffic off State Route 70.”
The county estimates that this project will reduce traffic on State Road 64, as well. Combined, the new alternate is expected to get about 21,000 cars off State Road 64 and 70 on a daily basis.
The expansion will also allow local traffic to avoid the congestion of both interstate interchanges.
The expansion involves six different projects. The first project began the expansion in 2013, where Cortez Road ends and traffic veers north to Contractor Woodruff & Sons is currently working on the fifth portion of the expansion. That project is expected to be completed by February and will expand 44th Avenue East to just west of the interstate.
Meanwhile, SEMA Construction, hired for the sixth and final project to take the roadway over the interstate, has already begun to clear the land for construction.
