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Commissioners give design direction on Sandhill Boulevard widening; favor roundabouts, right-turn lane and cost-conscious landscaping
Summary
County staff presented a Sandhill Boulevard 2-to-4 lane widening design; commissioners directed inclusion of a right-turn lane at Kings Highway, recommended roundabouts at key intersections (pending analysis), deferred heavy landscaping in favor of future sleeves/hardscape and chose standard LED roadway lighting to limit long-term maintenance costs.
Public Works and Johnson Engineering briefed the Charlotte County Board on a proposed 2-to-4 lane widening of Sandhill Boulevard on April 8. The design team presented alignment options, superelevation considerations through curves, and intersection treatments.
Engineers recommended addressing a tight curve near a storage facility by flattening the alignment and recommended advisory speeds for a secondary curve. Commissioners directed staff to acquire the necessary right-of-way at the tighter curve previously negotiated with a nearby developer and to include a right-turn lane at the Kings Highway approach to relieve queuing.
At two T-intersections (Capricorn and Deep Creek Boulevard) staff proposed either keeping stop-control or installing roundabouts. Commissioners generally favored roundabouts for safety, speed control and improved level-of-service but asked for engineering analysis of corridor interactions (gap acceptance, interactions with signalized nodes and peak flows). Staff noted a roundabout option would carry higher footprint and right-of-way costs—an illustrative additional estimate of roughly $400,000 (including right-of-way) for one intersection was discussed.
On landscaping and lighting, commissioners declined the $500,000+ enhanced planting option for the corridor; instead they instructed staff to insert sleeves or provisions now to enable future landscaping without major rework and to consider low-maintenance hardscape or crushed-shell treatments. For roadway lighting the board preferred standard LED roadway fixtures rather than decorative poles to keep capital and maintenance costs down, while asking procurement for a small set of acceptable standard fixture options.
Next steps: staff will refine the design to include the right-turn lane, evaluate roundabout geometry and corridor interactions, add future-landscaping sleeves in construction documents, and return with refined cost estimates and right-of-way plans.
