Letter to the Editor: Fix Collector Roads Before Ft Hamer Bridge

To the Manatee County Board of Commissioners:

Dear  Chairman  Chappie,

I am very disappointed  that you are pushing for the construction  of the Fort  Hamer  Bridge , which is not needed ,  while at the same time ignoring the lack of  construction progress on the nine urban collector roads identified by Public Works in August of 2010 as needing safety upgrades. I have seen no activity in eliminating the safety hazards existing on these roads in the past seventeen months. Public Works had identified these roads as priorities for improvements in their meeting with the Board on 8/31/2010.

It is wrong for Manatee County to be sitting on approximately $100 million of unexpended  Impact  Fees collected for roads and gas taxes while these safety hazards go uncorrected. Also, many of our unemployed construction workers could be working if these projects were activated. I will appreciate it if you will  provide me a schedule of the construction start dates for each of the nine urban collector roads improvement projects .

Thank  you for your assistance,

Jay  A.  King 

Manatee County