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could take two to four years, said Jim Harriott Jr., the county's chief engineer. "It's a big project," Harriott told the News Leader this week. "There is a lot of bridge work to the interstate and nearby drainage in addi- tion to the interchange improvement itself." That timeline would necessitate a plan for handling construction around the World Rowing Championships. A NEW PLAN AND A NEW PUSH The diverging diamond project has been on FDOT's project list. However, the initial pro- posal, pitched in 2013, called for construction to begin in 2018. The earlier plan did not have much support from local officials. That all changed in January, when state Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, met with FDOT District One Secretary Billy Hattaway. After their discussion, Steube was able to organize a meeting in Tallahassee with FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad and local leaders, including Hines. State officials said they wanted to put the project in the fast lane and utilize it as a key piece in solving the transportation puzzle at one of the region's fastest grow- ing intersections. The design for the interchange was also refined. The new proposal is smaller, and it would be funded entirely by the state, two modifications that won the support of Sarasota County Commission Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson. She had expressed res- ervations about the 2013 proposal. Robinson said that because of the size of the initial project, the state wanted the county to chip in for construction costs. "It has been dramatically scaled back," Robinson pointed out of the project. Robinson has also seen videos and other examples of diverging diamonds in the United States. "I am much more comfortable with it," Robinson told the News Leader this week. She added that state funding is now the big- gest "piece of the puzzle." State officials have explained that a diverg- ing diamond would work best at University Parkway/I-75 because it can handle more traffic than a standard "cloverleaf" design. Even though this type of intersection is new — the first was built in Missouri in 2009 — it has been proven to function well. Along with those in Missouri, diverging diamond inter- changes are located in Kentucky and Utah. Ananth Prasad is the secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation. Image courtesy FDOT Sarasota News Leader April 18, 2014 Page 74