Commission to host workshop on transportation issues

When Mayor Jack Duncan first learned of plans for a new crosswalk and sidewalk at North Shore Road, he had serious concerns about safety.

“I don’t want FDOT to push us around,” Duncan said at the Longboat Key Town Commission’s April 4 meeting. “This is our town. This is our road. We need to really push back on this in a big way.”

At that meeting, he suggested the board meet for a workshop to discuss the Florida Department of Transportation project, anticipating the need to get out of ahead of — and possibly delay the $175,000 plan — and address several other traffic issues, particularly at the north end.

After meeting with Town Manager Dave Bullock and speaking with FDOT District 1 Traffic Operations Manager L.K. Nandam, Duncan’s fears have been largely assuaged.

“I haven’t done a 180-degree-turn,” Duncan said this week in an interview with the Longboat Observer. “Maybe I’m at 160 degrees.”

The commission will discuss upcoming FDOT projects at its 1 p.m. April 18 regular workshop.

But even if the commission were to vote to put the project on hold, FDOT is moving forward with construction in the fall and completion by the end of the year or early 2017, according to Nandam.

The situation illustrates the sometimes shaky relationship between state transportation officials and town residents and representatives, some of whom perceive the agency as unresponsive to their concerns about Gulf of Mexico Drive, a state-controlled highway operated by FDOT.

Commissioner Phill Younger said he has fought to connect the last remaining stretch of unconnected walkway along Gulf of Mexico Drive for six years. FDOT expedited the plan in the last six months and included a crosswalk, Nandam said.

“I haven’t found (FDOT) to be overly cooperative or flexible, and they just have their own way of doing things,” said Younger.

While the crosswalk project is the fruit of that labor, it left some commissioners nervous considering the 45 mph speed limit on both directions approaching the proposed traffic improvement — and the controversy over the other four crosswalks FDOT recently installed.

Former Commissioner Lynn Larson was a vocal proponent of placing a crosswalk at Country Club Shores during the planning of the crosswalks.

“If I hadn’t been loud and persistent about it, it never would have happened,” said Larson.

But Bullock said there is a lot more communication between FDOT and the town than may be apparent at commission meetings and workshops.

For example, town staff knew the Coon Key Bridge project would close one lane of that road and built that issue into the bid documents when looking for a contractor for the $10 million mid-Key renourishment.

“There’s always room in there for differences, but overall we find ways to work together,” Bullock said. 

Bullock said FDOT worked with the town on the future placement of flashing signs in drivers’ line of sight to alert vehicles of incoming pedestrians at the new crosswalk. To test the measure, Public Works Director Juan Florensa wore a reflective vest to test the measure on-site last month.

“We make every effort to complete open lines of communication between staff, and when town staff requests us to come to commissioners, we do that,” Nandam said. “We do not make decisions in a vacuum.”

Along with the new crosswalk, Duncan hopes to discuss a proposed roundabout at Broadway and a request to lower the speed limit on GMD to 35 mph north of the proposed roundabout.

“I think we’re going to get that, but I’m not 100% sure,” Duncan said. “I’m still on bended knee begging.”