Thursday, January 1, 2015

THE BATTLES ABOUT TRUCK TRAFFIC AND SAFETY: NOBODY WANTS THEM IN THEIR TOWN CENTERS DUE TO THE ACCIDENTS THEY CAUSE, BUT NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO REDIRECT TRAFFIC



THE BATTLES ABOUT TRUCK TRAFFIC AND SAFETY: NOBODY WANTS THEM IN THEIR TOWN CENTERS DUE TO THE ACCIDENTS THEY CAUSE, BUT NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO REDIRECT TRAFFIC
 
Groveland, Florida officials disappointed FDOT didn't make SR 50 project a priority







FDOT does not include SR 50 realignment project in five-year plan





A semi turns onto State Road 19 from State Road 50 through Groveland causing traffic to stop short of the light.




Posted: Thursday, January 1, 2015 6:00 am 




City of Groveland officials were discouraged recently to learn the Florida Department of Transportation’s tentative five-year work plan does not include the State Road 50 realignment project.




Officials hoped the project would help detour heavy truck traffic from the downtown area and spur economic development.



As a result, they have launched a letter-writing campaign in hopes residents will convince the FDOT to change its mind.



Meanwhile, Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Executive Director T.J. Fish remains hopeful the project, which has already been funded in its design phase, will be completed. Right of way and construction costs still remain an issue.



“The Lake-Sumter MPO has been extremely successful in working with the FDOT to get things programmed,” he said.



The problem is funding, he said, citing a statute that requires the FDOT to distribute funds to counties based on population.



“Lake County is very well allocated and receiving a little bit more,” he said.



A portion of that funding has been allocated to the Wekiva Parkway Project, a planned 25-mile state toll road beginning at State Road 429 and ending near Mount Dora. It is designed to complete the beltway around northwest central Florida and reduce congestion on U.S. Highway 441, SR. 46 and other area roads.



The large project has resulted in other road projects being put on hold, Fish said.



Similar issues are occurring in Seminole and Orange counties, where the Wekiva Parkway is also listed as a project.



Jen Horton, public information specialist for the FDOT, said because of a lack of funding “no right of way was programmed this (annual) cycle.”



If delayed, the project would affect the city’s Downtown Master Plan focused on “creating a pedestrian friendly setting; encouraging intense commercial development and redevelopment; and providing additional residential options so people may live and work downtown,” according to the FDOT.



SR 50 and SR 19/SR 33, which runs north-south through downtown Groveland, both have heavy truck traffic. That is a challenge to creating a pedestrian friendly environment, state officials say.



“We are experiencing 600 to 700 truck trips per day right through our downtown area,” Groveland Mayor Tim Loucks said. “It has caused a substantial number of accidents in the downtown area”.



City Manager Redmond Jones wrote in a letter to FDOT that the city “had already experienced an incident of a pedestrian killed by downtown traffic.”



Groveland Deputy Police Chief John Flinn agrees that the area is prone to accidents.



“A lot of our population is increasing exponentially, including transient traffic,” he said.



In 2014, there were 113 accidents in the area, which represents half the crashes in the city, according to Flinn.



Flinn said police were working another semi-truck and car accident downtown Tuesday.



The project would realign SR 50 to the north of downtown. Specifically, the project’s limits are from County Road 565 (Villa City Road) to Brown Street, a distance of approximately 1.6 miles.



The changes are also needed to help enhance economic development, Loucks said.



“The state would turn Broad and Orange Streets over to the city of Groveland to become city streets,” he said. “We could go ahead and have plans to have angled parking on two one-way pair of streets and a roundabout at the entry way of Groveland.”



Because of traffic congestion, Loucks said parking downtown is impeded.



“The traffic congestion during certain times of the day prevents people from shopping or doing anything in the downtown area,” he said.



Jones wrote in his letter to the FDOT he would “sternly oppose any plan that doesn’t include this critical project.”



Even so, several downtown business owners welcomed the delay. They worry the project will result in a loss of business in the downtown area.



“There is no doubt there are some safety issues and there needs to be a different option in the long run,” said Tod Howard, owner of Howard Chiropractic & Massage in downtown Groveland. “To pretend we need a six-lane highway in the middle of Groveland is absurd. It will absolutely paralyze downtown Groveland. There is no doubt in my mind it will turn downtown Groveland into a ghost town.”



Howard said he would have preferred the city do a large roundabout at SR 19 and SR 50 as opposed to the realignment.



“It is going to destroy the property values,” he said. “Unfortunately, the city leaders have a myopic view and I am not sure they are seeing the bigger picture.”



Dr. Ronald Stone, owner of Veterinary Trauma Center Animal Hospital in downtown Groveland, said the project would destroy downtown Groveland.



“This has happened in other towns as well,” he said. “Once they put in SR 50 and bypassed it, it was history. No one goes to historic downtown Clermont.”