State transportation officials are considering widening River Road − a major interstate connector to rapidly growing south Sarasota County, including Wellen Park − to six lanes, instead of four.
The Florida Department of Transportation broke ground on the original $47.5 million road widening project in April 2022, with that version of the road designed to be six lanes from Center Road south to Tamiami Trail but four lanes wide from Center Road north to Interstate 75.
River Road is a key transportation corridor for coastal south Sarasota County, Charlotte County and the communities of North Port and Englewood, as well as a major hurricane evacuation transportation route. Area residents, as well as the region’s political leaders, have been pushing for the road, prone to standing water in heavy rain, to be widened for more than three decades.
The state acquired the five-mile stretch of road, also known as State Road 777, from Sarasota County as part of a road maintenance swap.
FDOT will host an open house and public hearing at 5 p.m., Nov. 21, on a planned modification of the River Road widening project that would make the entire five-mile stretch from U.S. 41 to I-75 six lanes wide.