MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Jonathan Greenlaw has spent much of his life at Palmetto Canning on U.S. 41.


What You Need To Know

  • Longtime business owner Jonathan Greenlaw is concerned with the amount of crashes on U.S. 41 in Palmetto

  • He says the issue is drivers heading north on U.S. 41 in Palmetto don’t see the drivers merging left from Business 41

  • He hired a traffic engineer to look at the issue as well

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Now the owner, his business has been in his family for nearly 100 years.

While he says the company has been successful, he’s always had one major concern.

“I’m tired of watching people be killed and maimed outside our place of business,” Greenlaw said.

He’s talking about the high amount of car crashes right outside his front door on U.S. 41. That includes one earlier this month where an SUV flipped over.

“This is a problem I have had front row seats to since I started working here when I was about 9, 10 years old in the retail store out front. And nothing has changed since that time,” Greenlaw said.

Greenlaw says the issue is that drivers heading north on U.S. 41 in Palmetto don’t see the drivers merging left from Business 41, especially if they’re trying to get to the businesses on the right.

He also says there’s not enough time for many drivers to figure out which way to go there.

“People in the merge lane have to quickly make a decision as to whether they are going to I-275 or 41. They panic and immediately jerk left into two lanes of traffic,” Greenlaw said.

Greenlaw got so frustrated by the amount of crashes that he even hired a traffic engineer to look at the issue.

He provided the results of the study to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).  But still, no changes have been made.

FDOT did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Greenlaw said he understands FDOT has a lot on its plate. But he’d like to see the issue resolved.

He feels something like a lane delineator there might solve a lot of the problems and as he hopes, save lives.

“It probably would alleviate 70 to 80 percent of the accidents out there. Very cheap, cost effective fix,” Greenlaw said.