State traffic engineers and consultants are looking at how to improve to the intersection of U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue.
Namely, the changes would be designed to increase pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between downtown and the the bayfront while improving traffic flow at the critical and often-overwhelmed gateway to Lido Key.
How to do it? Well, one option could be a roundabout.
It’s at least worth considering alongside improvements to existing, massive signalized intersection there now, FDOT officials say.
The study by consultant Kimley-Horn & Associates is expected to be complete by the end of 2017 and will cost $436,000, according to the project’s description.
A meeting about the alternatives is expected to be held sometime this fall and, as part of the study, the team is offering presentations to neighborhoods, small groups and organizations, according to an email to city leaders.
A public hearing on the ultimate recommended plan is expected to be held in the fall of 2017.
Roundabouts are Sarasota’s new favorite answer to improving traffic flow on already cramped roads that can’t be expanded without razing half of downtown, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be the answer to this Rubik’s Cube of an intersection.
Roundabouts get a bad rap by folks who think they’re being pitched as a silver bullet to the city’s traffic issues or will make traffic move faster. They’re not. Folks also argue they’re more dangerous than intersections. They’re not, and a multitude of studies prove it.
(That circle down at Jacaranda Boulevard is an exception, though. It is as dangerous as it seems because it’s just a shitty iteration of a shitty design. That’s why they’re fixing it.)
The city has plans to add 16 roundabouts over the next seven years, including a half-dozen along U.S. 41 north of Gulfstream. City planners have also pitched a “road diet” plan, still under consideration, that would shrink Fruitville road to two lanes on a small stretch in downtown and add three new roundabouts there. They idea being to keep traffic moving, even slowly, instead of stopping it at lengthy red lights every few blocks, planners explain.
But all of this is to say that the city’s got a big cussing traffic problem, and roundabouts or signal timing can’t fix it all. That’s why the city is still looking at free downtown shuttles, paid parking, water taxis and other forms of public transportation.