Ticket holders for Baltimore Orioles games could be affected
As members of the public complain about two Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) projects that will affect travel between downtown Sarasota and Longboat Key starting early this year, yet a third initiative will involve drivers who use one of the city’s busiest intersections, based on state data: Fruitville Road and Beneva Road.
(See the related article in this issue.)
On Dec. 16, Nikesh Patel, director of the City of Sarasota’s Public Works Department, forwarded to the city’s Communications Department staff, along with interim City Manager Dave Bullock and Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson, a notice he had received from Nancy Morgan, a community outreach staff member with FDOT. Morgan had provided Patel a fact sheet about the Fruitville-Beneva undertaking, adding that it is expected to begin this month, “weather permitting.”
The fact sheet explained that the work would entail “milling and resurfacing, pavement reconstruction, driveway and turn lane improvements, sidewalks and curb [work], drainage improvements, signing and pavement markings, lighting and signalization” on the 0.15-mile stretch of Fruitville Road starting at the Beneva Road intersection.
“This includes the addition of a bus pad on eastbound Fruitville Road,” the fact sheet said.
The $2.9-million initiative will entail temporary lane closures and traffic pattern changes while it is underway, the fact sheet noted.
“Construction begins in early 2026,” it said, adding that the completion of the work is estimated for “late 2026.”
FDOT’s Dec. 31 RoadWatch report — the first for 2026 — updated the start to “early January 2026,” with completion “anticipated for mid-2026, weather permitting.”
That report also indicated that staging for the undertaking was underway.
On Jan. 5, The Sarasota News Leader emailed FDOT outreach staff to ask exactly when the initiative is expected to begin. In response, Jason Heironimus, a public information officer and consultant for FDOT, provided the information from the Dec. 31 RoadWatch report, noting that it “is the most recent update.”
Heironimus added, “I will follow up with you once I hear back from the project team regarding a specific timeline.”
The News Leader had pointed out in its email that the Fruitville-Beneva intersection is particularly heavily traveled by baseball fans heading to the Baltimore Orioles’ Spring Training games at Ed Smith Stadium on 12th Street. Season ticket holders with parking passes are encouraged to use 17th Street to access the lots they use.
The first Spring Training game of this year is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 20, with the New York Yankees, as noted on an Orioles webpage. The Yankees game generally is a sellout.
The spring games at Ed Smith Stadium will conclude on Saturday, March 21.
A News Leader check of FDOT traffic data on Jan. 6 found that the annual average daily count at the intersection of Fruitville and Beneva roads for 2024 — the latest available — was 17,900.
After city Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch received the fact sheet from Deputy City Manager Robinson, she sent it on to Kelly Brown, president of the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations of Sarasota (CCNA), and Heather Kasten, president and CEO of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.
Ahearn-Koch asked Brown to “kindly forward this” to neighborhood associations in the area, while she asked Kasten to send it on to businesses that would be affected.
Further, she asked interim City Manager Bullock and Jerry Fogle, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, to make certain that the management of the Bobby Jones Golf Club, which is just north of the Fruitville-Beneva intersection, is aware of the plans. “That left turn from Fruitville onto Beneva,” she wrote, “is the shortest green arrow on the planet … so an already difficult turn could be even more difficult, maybe.”
Then Ahearn-Koch added, “Please share with anyone else you think would benefit from this.”