County’s Public Works staff issues notice about residents’ plans for traffic-calming measure
Sarasota County staff is planning to install three sets of speed cushions on South Casey Key Road from Albee Road to North Jetty Park, the Public Works Department announced on April 28.
The goal is to address speeding concerns that residents along that corridor have identified, which county staff has confirmed, a public notice explains.
The speed cushions would be purchased by the residents who have applied for that traffic-calming measure “and abutting residents,” the notice points out.
A graphic included with the notice shows that the plans call for the speed cushions to be placed at 410 S. Casey Key Road, 510 S. Casey Key Road and 712 S. Casey Key Road.
Through “the close of business” on May 28, county staff will be accepting public comments and information in regard to the proposal, the notice adds. Persons may contact the staff by calling the County Contact Center at 311 or 941-861-5000, or by emailing Wafa Mahmoud at wmahmoud@scgov.net or calling him at 941-861-0932, the notice says.
In March 2024, the Sarasota County commissioners seated at that time revived the county’s Residential Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, in response to the growing number of complaints about the threat of speeders to community residents, as The Sarasota News Leader reported.
However, unlike the original program — which ended in 2007 — the new version calls for neighborhoods to pay for materials for traffic-calming measures that they support, instead of the county’s sharing the expense with them, as in the past. Nonetheless, county Public Works Department Director Spencer Anderson told the commissioners on March 5, 2024, county staff will install and maintain the devices.
During his presentation that day, Anderson explained that residents’ requests for traffic-calming measures had increased. “We have a significant amount of traffic in the county,” he added, which — he indicated — leads to drivers making the decision to cut through neighborhoods to avoid heavily traveled roads.
Residents on Casey Key Road have complained to the county commissioners in recent years about the number of visitors who travel that road, which affords views of the Gulf, as well as a multitude of expensive homes.