project's purpose and need to provide additional capacity, accommodate transportation demand across the Manatee River, and enhance safety.

The Build Alternative would include the DeSoto Bridge Replacement to a wider bridge, widening the roadway from four to six general purpose through lanes, and adding two elevated proposed express lanes on a viaduct supported by median piers. Additional improvements include drainage upgrades and enhanced bicycle and pedestrian facilities, including sidewalks south of the DeSoto Bridge and shared use paths to north of the DeSoto Bridge.

The Build Alternative addresses forecasted north-south travel demand by providing additional roadway capacity on US 301 in Bradenton and on US 41 in Bradenton and Palmetto. Given the prevailing urban and suburban land use characteristics surrounding the project area, achieving a balance between the competing needs of capacity enhancement versus access to adjacent land use presents challenges. In response to those challenges, roadway capacity improvements were identified in conjunction with project stakeholders to maximize north-south traffic flow efficiency while minimizing impacts to abutting properties and environmentally sensitive areas. The resulting Build Alternative provides two new uninterrupted travel lanes, or proposed express lanes, separate from the existing travel lanes, or general-use lanes. In Bradenton south of westbound SR 64, roadway capacity enhancement is provided exclusively by proposed express lanes located in the roadway median on an elevated structure above the at-grade lanes. From north of westbound SR 64 to the northern project limit, capacity enhancements are provided via a combination of the two proposed express lanes plus expansion of the general-use lanes from four to six.

An Interim Improvements is proposed between westbound SR 64 and US 301 that would widen the roadway from four to six through lanes and replace the DeSoto Bridge with a 6-lane structure and add a shared use path on both sides of the bridge.

Further discussion of the Build Alternative is provided in Section 5.4. Estimated project costs are summarized in Section 7.1.23.

The Preferred Alternative is the Build Alternative as described in Section 7.0. It provides two new proposed express lanes and expands the general-use lanes to facilitate the movement of motorists, emergency responders, and freight handlers. It also addresses pedestrian and bicyclist needs by implementing shared use paths along US 41 from the DeSoto Bridge to 17th Street East, thereby enhancing connectivity to the existing and planned trails in the Manatee County Greenway Trail System. It also closes existing sidewalk gaps in Bradenton from westbound SR 64 to the DeSoto Bridge. It addresses safety enhancements by reducing congestion along US 41, which reduces the potential for both the number and severity of vehicular crashes. The Preferred

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