Bradenton neighborhood has turned into a ‘racetrack,’ residents say. Is a fix coming?

The sign along the busy highway is a cry for help.

“Be Careful. You are on the Morgan Johnson Race Track. No one cares”

Joyce and Dana Stump have lived off Morgan Johnson Road since 1997. Back then, Morgan Johnson, also known as 57th Street East, was a quiet country road with little traffic. The road sits just east of Braden River.

But that began to change during the housing boom leading up to the Great Recession in 2007.

When Manatee County opened the new Braden River Bridge on 44th Avenue East last year, it gave drivers a new east-west alternative. It also gave drivers on 44th Avenue the option to go north to State Road 64 or south to State Road 70.

The impact was immediate, say the Stumps.

Traffic increases along Bradenton road, neighbors say

“We saw a 75% increase in traffic after the bridge opened. Prior to that, the only real impact was when school opened or let out at Bashaw Elementary or Braden River High School,” Joyce said.

Dana Stump compares the Morgan Johnson Road traffic increase to what happened when the two-lane Fort Hamer Bridge opened in 2017.

The number of drivers headed to the Fort Hamer Bridge can cause severe traffic backups. The bridge should have been built as either a four-lane or six-lane bridge to facilitate the flow of traffic, Dana said.

More forethought on the part of Manatee County commissioners could have helped avoid the situation on the Fort Hamer Bridge, as well as what’s happened to Morgan Johnson Road, he said.

According to project documents on the Manatee County Government website, commissioners have budgeted $6 million to study a possible expansion of the Fort Hamer Bridge and other parts of Fort Hamer Road.

Morgan Johnson not only sees a lot more cars and SUVs, but semi trucks, dump trucks and delivery vehicles, Joyce said.

There is also more unsafe driving as well, the couple said.

Dawn Suttle, a secretary at Bible Baptist Church, 2113 Morgan Johnson Road, said it can be difficult to find an opening in traffic.

“Sometimes it takes five full minutes before I can pull out,” she said.

“It took only about a week after the bridge opened and traffic picked up big time,” Suttle said.

The sign on the Stumps’ fence cautions “drive, walk, bike at your own risk” and notes that there is one school, five churches and no crosswalks that work along the road.

What will fix Morgan Johnson traffic issues?

The Stumps believe that a traffic light at the intersection of Morgan Johnson Road and 18th Avenue East could offer a break in traffic to allow residents get in and out of their driveways.

There are times that traffic backs up from State Road 64 to past their driveway, Joyce said.

Manatee County Government has discussed plans to widen Morgan Johnson Road and Caruso Road, but that relief doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon, according to the county’s Capital Improvement Plan.

The proposed plan includes resurfacing and widening the roadway to 24 feet, plus constructing closed drainage and re-grading to provide eight-foot shoulders.

But the $7.2 million project was not among the projects approved in the budget.

Traffic congestion has become one of Manatee-Sarasota’s biggest challenges.

Causes include increased demand on area roads with thousands of new residents moving to the area annually, as well as the area’s popularity as a vacation playground and insufficient north-south alternatives to Interstate 75.