Design underway for bridge over Braden River

MANATEE COUNTY – Bill Campbell, who has lived along the Braden River for nearly 40 years, says he knows the bridge planned as part of the 44th Avenue East extension project is inevitable, but when he saw a barge on the river this week, it was still an ominous sign.

“It is the reality,” the East Manatee resident said. “There are a lot of folks out here that have lived out here and enjoyed the peace and quiet. It is going to go away no matter how they sugarcoat it. It is sad.”

The barge is likely part of the work engineering consultant AECOM of Sarasota is doing in designing the bridge over the Braden River, which is one of two bridges planned as part of the 44th Avenue East project, according to Sia Mollanazar, Manatee County deputy director of public works.

The other bridge planned for the project, which will connect Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch, is over Interstate 75.