Siesta Key Village Association sends FDOT back to the drawing board

Siesta Key Village Association members don't plan to yield when it comes to a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) proposal to remove a small stretch of merging lane at Midnight Pass and Stickney Point roads.

The possibility became a contentious subject at Tuesday’s Siesta Key Village Association meeting, when transportation officials presented preliminary.

The proposed changes are part of an FDOT effort to minimize pedestrian accidents at the intersection, but association members worried that removing the portion of the lane that allows traffic to merge with northbound vehicles on Midnight Pass Road would create significant congestion.

That change would eliminate the illusion of a “free-flow” right lane at the intersection, according to L.K. Nandam, traffic operations engineer for FDOT.

But many of those present at the meeting suggested pedestrian accidents may be cause more by pedestrian error or disregard for the law than by driver error.

“It’s hard to make it moron-proof,” said Mark Smith, vice president of SKVA. “There’s a certain amount of Darwinism that goes with everything.”

Association members also questioned whether pedestrian accidents at that intersection were statistically significant.

“I’m concerned when we assemble data that there were one or two real, probably avoidable, incidents and then mass it with the overall data and get a big number,” said Sarasota County Commissioner Alan Maio.

Maio asked for more data on pedestrian crashes to gauge whether action was really needed.

Michael Shay, maintenance manager for SK Village Maintenance Corp., added, “ … to create a situation to protect someone who shouldn’t be crossing there — I’ve got a problem with that.”

Nandam said pedestrian crashes are generally cumulative over large areas, and high-profile intersections are difficult to find.

“You’re not going to have (those),” Nandam said, citing a review of 20 accident-prone intersections in the district comprising Sarasota. “Guess what? There were three crashes, four crashes in two years at each of those locations. However, you compile them together and suddenly you’re the top-ranked metropolitan area for (lowest) pedestrian safety in the nation.”

Another FDOT representative said that they considered two pedestrian accidents when redesigning the intersection, one of which took place at the actual intersection. The other took place at the northern terminus of the merge lane, past the juncture. He said that there were also several vehicle accidents caused by the merge lane that they took into account.

Association members suggested that some of the proposed changes were well designed, and several avid cyclists in the group lauded the extension of Stickney Point’s westbound bike lane so that it connects with the shoulder on northbound Midnight Pass. They also had no objection to the crosswalk being moved slightly.

Nandam thanked the group for its input and said that, after the meeting, he and his staff would attempt to redesign the changes without removing the merge lane, but preserving changes to the bike lane. He also agreed to abide Maio’s suggestion to explore testing the changes with measures that were easily removable so they could be removed if necessary.

“We heard from you guys,” Nandam said. “We’re going to go back, brainstorm a little, and propose something that addresses your concerns.”

“It’s hard to make it moron-proof. There’s a certain amount of Darwinism that goes with everything.” — Mark Smith, SKVA vice president

According to Smart Growth America, an advocacy group, Florida was the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrians, based on data the group assembled between 2003 and 2012.

The Brandenton/Venice/Sarasota metropolitan area saw 1,047 traffic fatalities in that time period, 172 of which included pedestrian fatalities. Most of those deaths occurred on arterial roadways and streets with a speed limit of more than 40 mph.

Nandam indicated that even a few pedestrian accidents is significant because those accidents often result in significant injuries or fatalities, and urged the association to keep in mind that FDOT is trying to balance the needs of everyone, including motorists and pedestrians.

“We’ve got to balance safety for everybody,” Nandam said.

He also emphasized that plans for this intersection are in formative stages and that public input is the beginning of the conversation. He will make another presentation to the Siesta Key Association Sept. 3.

To build what was proposed at Tuesday’s SKVA meeting, Nandam said, would not take more than “a couple of weeks,” and would not be built during peak season.