FDOT presents San Carlos Boulevard ideas
If one opinion was made clear at Monday’s Florida Department of Transportation presentation, it’s that some of the town council members are not fond of roundabouts.
Staff from the Florida Department of Transportation gave a presentation to the town council during its Monday, Nov. 7, workshop to update the board about its traffic study on San Carlos Boulevard from Summerlin Road to Crescent Street. Some of the proposed solutions to traffic issues included roundabouts, which are lauded by FDOT for reducing fatal accidents.
Mayor Dennis Boback thinks the older demographic of Fort Myers Beach can’t learn how to use them, especially when he compares the beach’s population to the “younger, supposedly more alert” population that does not effectively use the roundabout on Plantation Road in Fort Myers.
“I despise them,” said Vice Mayor Summer Stockton.
This study, which began in May 2015, is supposed to examine traffic problems and find a number of solutions to those problems, then deliver the ideas to the public for input and feedback.
FDOT’s Charles Bleam presented to council some of the data the study had collected and some solutions that FDOT was considering. However, Bleam said that none of the ideas the organization were studying were set in stone.
“These are not hard, we’re not building tomorrow or next week, just ideas,” Bleam said.
In the short term, Bleam identified a few fixes that would potentially help traffic flow.
Pedestrian management: by removing the pedestrian signal at the base of the bridge and putting a traffic signal at Crescent Street and Estero Boulevard and 5th Street and Old San Carlos Boulevard, pedestrians would have to cross the street at the crosswalk at the signals instead of crossing at any place on the street in that area.
Redirecting traffic: by restriping San Carlos Boulevard, without changing the bridge itself, FDOT could allow two lanes of traffic onto the beach and one coming off the beach.
Roundabouts: FDOT would begin analyzing every intersection for potential roundabouts. However, Bleam said not every intersection is a good place for a roundabout.
Council Member Rexann Hosafros said she was told years ago by a different FDOT representative that a roundabout would be built at the southern end of the Matanzas Pass Bridge, to help keep traffic moving. She asked if this roundabout was still likely, as she had been telling residents who asked that this was FDOT’s solution.
Bleam said FDOT would have to examine that area more closely, but a roundabout would help people trying to go left to get off the beach from the north end of the island.
FDOT is also examining the potential of removing the alternating signal on San Carlos Boulevard at Buttonwood and Prescott, but only if the restriping occurred to allow two lanes southbound over the bridge.
“If you take out that alternating light, it’s a nightmare,” Boback said, with several council members in agreeance.
Without the light, people are speeding up the right hand lane of San Carlos Boulevard trying to merge over into traffic to get to the beach, he said.
Bleam explained if there were two lanes going over the bridge, then it wouldn’t be an issue. Hosafros disagreed, saying people would be in the right lane and try to merge into the left lane over the bridge trying to drive down Estero Boulevard, so the problem would just be shifted.
“I do not believe that 50 percent of people are turning right,” she said, adding that the alternating signal was a solution that the community and town worked on together and was one of the few times residents said the government had done something right.
Charlie Whitehead, a San Carlos Island resident, asked during public comment if the FDOT analysis would include any proposed development and its impacts, such as the Bay Harbour Marina Village. Bleam confirmed that developments that have made applications would be factored into the equation.
Another solution – although not a new proposal – would be pedestrian walkovers and landscaping that would funnel pedestrian toward those walk-overs. Bleam suggested two of these bridges could be built on Old San Carlos and on Estero near Crescent Park.
“I don’t like it, it makes me think I’m in New York,” Stockton said.
She said she didn’t believe most people would actually use the walk-over: if they were on the other side of the street they would be looking for the quickest and most convenient way to get across.
Bleam said it was only a suggestion, but that FDOT would also put in landscaping in its right of way – such as hearty shrubs or thick bush – that would discourage people from trying to get through the shrubs to cross the street and instead use the overpass.
“I’m not going to use that,” Stockton said, adding, “I’ll be that person going right through them.”
Gore also expressed concern than during spring break, people would throw things off of them or jump off them.
Cereceda, however, said such walk-overs could become an attraction to some people – with their elevated height, she said people would like to walk over them to take photos.
For the long-term fix for San Carlos Boulevard, Bleam said FDOT will consider widening Matanzas Pass Bridge to include a sidewalk on the southbound side of the bridge, implement roundabouts and traffic signals at intersections that would be appropriate and use signs that could forewarn drivers of the traffic situation on the beach.
However, before pursuing any final plans, FDOT will be meeting with the public to gather its input, ideas and complaints about any of its suggested solutions. The meeting is not scheduled yet but Bleam projected it would be in January or February.
“How much do our opinions weigh in to this?” Stockton said.
Bleam said feedback would be critical for making decisions on solutions. If people disagreed, FDOT would try to explain better why a solution was preferred, but ultimately, his department wants to make sure what gets put in will work, and feedback was part of that process.
“It’s paramount,” Bleam said.