St. Armands residents seek to stop traffic

Drivers frequently wind up in a jam when they navigate St. Armands Circle during season. As a result, many drivers take an alternate path through St. Armands Key’s residential side streets. Cut-through traffic is especially heavy on North Washington Drive.

To address the cut-through traffic, the St. Armands Key Residents Association conducted an e-mail survey of residents in blocks 1 through 300 of North Washington Drive and found that those residents supported placing a no-left-turn sign at the intersection of North Washington Drive and North Boulevard of the Presidents.

“At any given time of year, there’s probably six cars or 10 cars lined up out there,” said Bill Rex, a North Washington Drive resident and second vice president of the association. “It’s becoming a safety issue.”

Rex said that some members sent other suggestions that would be difficult to implement on a public street, such as making the street open to residents only.

At an October St. Armands Circle traffic workshop, a North Washington Drive resident cited a study by the city of Sarasota that found that as many as 2,500 cars a day pass through the street during peak season.

But association Treasurer Earl Scott, who lives on North Adams Drive, another frequent cut-through street, said that number is probably higher.

“From a courtesy standpoint, the main thoroughfare should be state roads,” Scott said. “What we should all be aiming for is to create those state roads so that they are passable at a reasonable time.”

Scott said that drivers frequently become angry as the result of congestion on the side streets.

“There have been shouting matches, and sometimes people making threats,” Scott said. “They are frustrated and want to get through.”

The results of the survey have been forwarded to the city of Sarasota and Florida Department of Transportations (FDOT), and the association is currently awaiting an update.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected]

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