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Neighborhood report

Briefs: Residents of condos to get left-turn lane

By SHERRI DAY
Published December 16, 2005

GANDY/SUN BAY SOUTH - Residents of Culbreath Key Bayside Condominiums recently wrested a major concession from state transportation planners in charge of redesigning Gandy Boulevard. Transportation officials have agreed to install a left-turn lane into the condo complex.

The state initially planned to install large landscaped medians in the center of Gandy from Dale Mabry Highway to the Gandy Bridge. That design would have prevented motorists traveling east on Gandy from turning left into the condo complex. Instead, drivers would have to make a U-turn at West Shore Boulevard to access the complex.

Citing inconvenience, the residents began petitioning state Department of Transportation officials shortly after they debuted the Gandy redesign last December.

Adam Perez, the state's manager for the Gandy project, said modifications to another planned median at Bridge Street made changing the design near Culbreath Key easier. Neither change will affect safety along the boulevard or irreparably alter the project's original design, which still includes several landscaped medians, Perez said. Travelers exiting the complex will still have to make a right turn out of the complex and make a U-turn to go east on Gandy.

Perez expects bidding on the project to begin in June. Construction could start by fall and take two years to complete.

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 10:05:12]