SARASOTA COUNTY -- In the most expensive road project ever undertaken by Sarasota County government, workers began work Tuesday on an 18-month project to widen a 3.6-mile stretch of Center Road from two to four lanes between Jacaranda Boulevard and River Road, outside of Venice.

"It's not just about cars. It's about enhancing the community and the corridor," said James Harriott, interim executive director of the county's Public Works department.

In addition to a 4-foot bicycle lane, the county is also building a 10-foot-wide path and sidewalk on both sides of the roadway as part of the county's trails system.

While the road is designed to be a model of aesthetics in the county, it is primarily seen as an important connector road in one of the fastest-growing parts of the county.

Miami-based Lennar Communities broke ground a year ago on a 1,400-home project along Center and River roads. The 545-acre development, called Stoneybrook, will include a mix of single-family homes, condominiums and apartments. Another 2,000 homes are planned in two developments on the north side of Center Road.

"We now have accounted for all the growth that's going to be coming," County Commissioner Shannon Staub said Tuesday, after donning a hard hat and symbolically shoveling some dirt for the cameras.

The Center Road project does not address another potential traffic problem: River Road. With its exits at Interstate 75 and U.S. 41, River Road is also congested, but it has just two lanes and the commitment to widen it could be years off.

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