Stories to watch in 2018: Traffic study should materialize in coming year

Single solution is unlikely, though effect of several ideas might add up to smoother travel.

By Eric Garwood
| 9:30 a.m. January 2, 2018

Traffic circles, like this one envisioned in a rendering on Gulf of Mexico Drive, are among the possible solutions to mitigate traffic.

Longboat Key
News

If the Florida Department of Transportation’s Barrier Island Traffic Study is going to bear fruit, 2018 should be the year the area starts seeing blossoms on the trees.

The $675,000 project, approved in Sept. 2016 and launched in May 2017, is designed to reach several milestones about traffic on Longboat and Lido keys, along with Anna Maria Island and their mainland connection points.

Its methodology is designed in phase one to canvass the data of 19 previous traffic studies to determine if any findings remain relevant. Many of them, it turns out, still are, said Frank Domingo, project manager of FDOT’s partner consulting company in the study. That process wrapped up in late summer.

Proposed ideas

To reduce intersection delays at Gulf of Mexico Drive and Longboat Club Road, examine the feasibility of a traffic circle replacing the traffic light.
Consider a traffic circle alternative at Ringling Parkway and Ken Thompson Parkway to reduce intersection delays.
Park and ride options from the mainland to such destinations as Lido Key or St. Armands
A gateway to Longboat Key from the north, in the form of a traffic circle at Gulf of Mexico Drive and Broadway.
A beach-based shuttle on Lido Beach that uses the vehicle/pathway lanes at the back of the beach next to the berm to allow all-terrain cart-shuttle services along the beach
Widen the existing bike lanes into cart lanes to allow motorized carts that are rented on the Island to travel outside of the general purpose lanes
Water shuttles from the mainland to various destinations on the barrier islands.
A centralized parking system that allows drivers to identify parking areas and pay in advance before beginning the drive.
A aerial cable-car system spanning Sarasota Bay from the mainland to the St. Armands area.

Phase two includes gathering new data through traffic counts and other observations. Domingo said FDOT gathers “origin-destination data” from Bluetooth-enabled devices, like cellphones and laptop computers, to analyze where people are coming from, where they are going, how long they are staying and more.

Phase three includes completion of a transportation management plan and the recommendation of improvements.

While phase two is scheduled to run into the early 2018, at which point phase three will begin and run through the fall, some of the ideas have been mentioned as possible improvements. A third bridge over Sarasota Bay is not one of the possibilities, though

Longboat Key Commissioner Jack Daly, who sits on the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the steering committee of the Barrier Island study, said that many of the recommendations, taken individually, won’t make much of a difference, but rather taken collectively have a chance at smoothing out traffic across the region.

“Recognizing that there may not be a "silver bullet" solution to the seasonal significant traffic issues on the Barrier Islands, including Longboat Key, I continue to urge that the Final BITS recommendations include and prioritize, major regional infrastructure improvements with cost estimates, focusing on improving traffic congestion on the barrier islands; leaving no stone unturned for potential long range solutions,’’ he wrote to the FDOT on Dec. 7. “ Further, I suggest that such potential solutions, even if not feasible within a normal planning cycle, should at least be identified in the BITS, with ballpark cost estimates if possible.’’