69° SUNNY, Sarasota tries to bridge 4 lanes of steely death
Last Modified: Friday, October 10, 2008 at 2:20 p.m.
SARASOTA - If you have ever stood at Main and U.S. 41, waiting for the crosswalk signal as cars speed by at 50 mph, you understand why the city is beginning an all-out effort to make the roadway more pedestrian-friendly.
A planning firm has been charged with finding ways to get people from downtown to the bayfront.
City officials say the goal is to change the current "relatively high-speed, pedestrian-unfriendly character of U.S. 41."
That means slowing cars from 40 mph to 30 mph or 25 mph.
The city paid the company $283,000 to hold a public workshop and draw up plans.
The firm's engineers have been out on U.S. 41, counting traffic and researching the number and type of crashes.
THE ISSUE:
A set of
roundabouts at U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue, and U.S. 41 and Fruitville. The idea is to create a slower, more continuous flow of cars. Opponents see the roundabouts as traffic bottlenecks.
• A sky plaza was proposed three years ago. Proponents argued that this $7 million crosswalk over the highway would solve all the problems.
• Narrowing the width of
lanes to try to slow traffic is a recent suggestion.
• Adding parking on the side of the roadway to urge motorists to ease off the accelerator.
• Putting in landscaping and more visible crosswalks.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Tuesday: At a public meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall, planning consultants will talk about the goals and details of the
project.
Nov. 14: Beginning of a four-day public planning workshop. Residents can vote on different options. 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Nov. 15: Residents can help with design work on the
proposals.
January: City Commission will recommend projects.
2009: Firm will draw plans and start permitting process. Short-term improvements could begin as soon as fall 2009, if funding is
available.
INTERESTED?
Information is available on the city's web site
www.downtown.sarasotagov.com.
Residents can e-mail comments to:
bayfrontconnect@sarasotagov.com. This e-mail goes to city planners and the consultant working on the project.
Residents can also e-mail city commissioners:
Fredd Atkins, fredd.atkins@sarasotagov.com
Richard Clapp,
richard.clapp@sarasotagov.com
Kelly Kirschner,
kelly.kirschner@sarasotagov.com
Lou Ann Palmer,
LouAnn.Palmer@sarasotagov.com
Ken Shelin,
Ken.Shelin@sarasotagov.com
The city will hold a four-day workshop in November so residents can debate the best way to solve the problem of trying to walk from the city to its pretty bayside park. Experts will be on hand for lots of discussion about the five-decade-old dilemma.
Something could be built as soon as 2009, if the money is available. All the options are on the table -- with one catch. Residents, for the most, part have to agree.
That has been a problem for the past few years, as various options were floated, mulled over for months and shot down.
There was an eruption of letters to the editor and angry comments at City Commission meetings when urban planner Andres Duany suggested reducing the roadway to two lanes.
Then a group proposed a Sky Plaza overpass, and another group complained that it would be ugly, expensive, and nobody would use it.
"What's different this time is we are going into this understanding that somehow we have to slow the traffic on U.S. 41," city chief planner Steven Stancel said.
"What is not on the table is reducing the number of traffic lanes," he added.
This story appeared in print on page BN3
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Comments
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October 9, 2008 10:55:31 pm
RE: Link
If something is not on the table for discussion, what is the point? Short of reducing the lanes and acquiring some land north of downtown to divert traffic from 301 back to 41, there isn't much to discuss besides simply making the walk lights longer.
October 10, 2008 4:01:05 am
New York, Chicago, Boston - you name the big cities and people have to cross highways and roads to get to the other side. The powers that be at city hall are determined to bring in this huge obscenely expensive stadium and in the same breath they want to keep Sarasota a small town with restricted roads. What is wrong with this scene?
October 10, 2008 6:57:48 am
Here we go with the bayfront connectivity, it is deja vu all over again. I have seen this proposal come and go multiple times and every time a new consultant is hired costing the City thousands $$$, that they say they don't have, to do what Planning & Engineering staff are paid to do. If the City can not figure this out on their own without the use of "suggestions" from consultants then it is time to clean house. I run this route from one end of Main Street to the bridge 3 times a week. I also walk this intersection with my dog a couple times a week. Every time I cross 41 here I can't help but to laugh as I visualize an obtrusive metalic structure designed to get people to the other side as I wait for the walk signal to come on, with NO one around me might I add. Herald and I have discussed this before on here, people are not going to go be willing to go up, over, and down 500 plus feet when they can wait 2 minutes to walk 100 feet (not exact measurements). People that are walking from downtown to the bayfront are on vacation most of the time or going to a special event so something tells me that they are not in that much of a rush. Furthermore, try and obstruct the views of condo owners with this structure, it will never happen. If this is because of parking, come on, people will circle downtown 10 times for a close spot before they will park at the bayfront and have to walk, heaven forbid. This has all been studied before and proven to be a BIG waste of money for nothing. Save your money and just retime the cross walk, celebrate the intersection at the corners and decorate the concrete somehow to better identify the cross walk. So good luck getting a majority to agree on this one, they can't even agree on what to do with Gulfstream Avenue from parking to connectivity.
October 10, 2008 7:57:00 am
You know this city gets worse everyday. What is up with these commissioners? Another $280,000.00 dollars to consultants that come up with a Sky Walk concept that would make this city the laughing stock of the state of florida, not to mention the rest of the sane world. What a Joke. Why do we have city employees in a traffic department? Why do we have to keep hiring consultants?
That is the worst, stupid looking thing have every scene.
Where, where is the common sense. You can't get across the street? Why?....Slow the traffic down, enforce the speed limits, put up speed cameras, lower the speed limit, lengthen the red light time....How hard can this be?
It's no wonder the city is in the mess it's in....
October 10, 2008 8:44:55 am
Most of the time i don't really have trouble getting across 41 near the bayfront. But a couple of Saturdays ago I was at Ringling waiting to cross 41 to the bayfront (on foot). The light turned red for 41 drivers (green for us), but one of the cars turned right anyway, even though several pedestrians were standing there on the curb preparing to cross 41. One jogger almost got run over by the driver. He said it happens all the time.
So yes, intersections with walk lights can be OK, but they're not always safe because -- no surprise -- drivers can be jerks.
October 10, 2008 10:00:52 am
OK Laura my dear,
You and Mr. Tom are the ones with the big INK BARRELS and PRINTING PRESSES . . . whatcha gonna do about it?
October 10, 2008 10:09:34 am
It's not like there's a hospital or some necessary service or school on the bayfront. It's a freakin' park. If you can't wait for a couple of walk lights I guess it's not so important that millions for a bridge, let alone the thousands they are wasting on this forum are worth it. What the heck do we elect leaders for who hire experts and traffic engineers if they can't figure out how to get pedestrians across a street?
October 10, 2008 10:23:23 am
Laura,
I appreciate what you are saying but how does spending thousands on a consultant foresee accidents like this? Accidents happen everywhere and if it is due to human error, which this was, there is no way to fix it. We have people run ride lights all over the place but we are not hiring consultants to investigate on how to fix it. There is absolutely no way to avoid the scenario you just gave unless you dig down or build up to get to the other side. I cross Lemon at Main everyday for lunch and at least once a week I almost get hit there, does this area require thousands in consultant studies as well or can we both agree that we can't account for those not following road laws and that the pedestrian needs to excercise a little caution regardless of where the intersection is in the City? After all that Lauren, I hope to see you do a piece on this because it would be nice for someone to research how many times this has been looked at and how much the City has spent on consultants and staff time on this topic to date. It is my guess that this will be just like way finding and the cultural district, thousands spent on something that will never happen and that bothers me especially when soon you will be able to add the stadium proposal into that pile of wasted tax dollars due to the current bond problems municipalities face. Thanks again and sorry if it sounded like I was shooting you down, just believe in taking a common sense approach.
October 10, 2008 10:25:12 am
maybe they could post crossing guards like a school zone
October 10, 2008 10:31:17 am
All you want to do will cost A LOT MORE than the consultant fee.
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