North Port wants to widen Price Boulevard

Published: Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 3:37 p.m. Last Modified: Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 3:37 p.m.

NORTH PORT - As commuters head to work and students arrive at several schools in the mornings, especially North Port High and Heron Creek Middle, traffic on two-lane Price Boulevard frequently backs up.

The stop-and-go experience gets repeated after classes are dismissed and, after 5 p.m., as commuters return home.

The City Commission recently decided that widening Price will be the city's next major thoroughfare project.

Price serves as the main east-west connector between Interstate 75 and U.S. 41. It spans much of the city, serving as the conduit thousands use to reach the city's main north-south connectors between I-75 and U.S. 41, Sumter Boulevard and Toledo Blade Boulevard.

There's no other way to cut across the city without using the federal highways, former city commissioner Fred Tower said. It (widening project) definitely is needed.

Nearly 7,000 vehicles traveled daily on the stretch west of Sumter Boulevard and nearly twice that many, 13,100, relied on the segment between Sumter and Toledo Blade Boulevard, according to a 2013 survey by the Florida Department of Transportation.

The City Commission says traffic will worsen if the two-lane road is not widened to four lanes.

City officials say the 5.8-mile project, from Biscayne Drive to Toledo Blade, can be done using the existing 100 feet of right of way and without taking anyone's property.

That's the plan that makes the most sense, Mayor Jim Blucher told city administrators. ...I think we need to move forward with it.

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North Port wants to widen Price Boulevard