A new traffic signal is up and running at the intersection of Player's Drive and Lorraine Road in Lakewood Ranch.

Manatee County Government announced on X on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that construction of the signal and new pedestrian crossings at the intersection is complete. The county said the project improves safety and connectivity for residents navigating the area.


The intersection sits between two gated communities, Lakewood Ranch Country Club and Country Club East. An estimated 44,000 people pass through the community gates each month, according to minutes from a September 2023 Community Traffic Safety Team meeting.

The signal ends a debate that drew more than 200 residents to a community meeting in September 2023. Manatee County had originally proposed a roundabout for the intersection, but residents organized against it.

Nancy Haas, team lead of Country Club East, told the Community Traffic Safety Team that residents worried the roundabout would increase congestion, that semitrailers could not navigate it and that the footprint was too small for the location. Rex Jensen, president and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the development company behind Lakewood Ranch, also opposed the roundabout.

"A signal is more favorable at this location due to unique community/intersection dynamics," Jensen wrote at the time, according to the Bradenton Herald.

The roundabout was dead. Manatee County commissioners voted unanimously in November 2023 to build a traffic signal instead. The signal was estimated to cost about $2 million, compared with $3.3 million for a roundabout, according to county documents cited by the Bradenton Herald. County Administrator Charlie Bishop said at the time that the savings could be redirected to other traffic improvements in Lakewood Ranch.

The completed signal is one piece of a much larger puzzle along the Lorraine Road corridor. The overall project to improve Lorraine Road between State Road 70 and State Road 64 carries an estimated price tag of $85.2 million, Your Observer reported in September. Of that total, $11 million has been budgeted for design and land acquisition. No additional funding is budgeted over the next five years.

Residents can find more information about Manatee County capital improvement projects at mymanatee.org/ciphub.