Dennis Dix, Director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, addressed the Brooksville city council On September 19th in regards to the project of reverting the one way streets back to two way in the City of Brooksville: The one way streets are Broad Street and Jefferson Street.
This has been a priority for the city for a number of years, as the pedestrian friendliness of the city suffers with the high speed free flowing traffic of the one way pairs. These roads being state highways are also a major corridor for shipping. Trucks barrel through the city on a daily basis. Reverting the roads to two way and essentially re-routing them around the city would ease truck traffic and make the city more pedestrian friendly.
Dix explained that the project has been given the highest priority in Hernando County on the long range transportation plan. However, Dix said that in order for this to happen the DOT will demand that US 98 be swapped for Cobb Rd and Cobb must be turned into 4 lanes which will cost approximately $55 million. He also said that based on discussion they will need to move US 41 out of town due to congestion from removing one way pairs and that will cost $20 million. The actual project to remove the pairs is estimated to cost $10 million. He projects the timeframe for this at 10-15 years if the funding comes through from the state.
Dix explained that although the pair reversion and US 98 relocation occupy the first and second positions on the priority list, it is likely that the US 98 project will be surpassed by the State Road 50 project to connect Orlando to Tampa via 4 lanes. He said that it is being pushed heavily and well supported in the legislature.
“That’s a huge project and my concern is it’s going to take more resources away. The part that’s built in Hernando County will come from the MPO’s funding sources, which will slow down the US 98 shifting over to Cobb Rd. Instead of 7 years it might take 12 or 15 years,” said Dix.
However he did say they will be pursuing funding for the SR 50 project through special allocations during the next legislative session. He warned that if that does not happen, then they will come for the regular funding source.
While Dix communicated to council that the SR 50 project is a reality and it will occur first, he also offered an interim project to alleviate problems with the speed of traffic on the one way pairs. This would entail strategies in congestion management or a complete streets approach to traffic calming. These strategies include narrowing the roadways to gain more space for sidewalks and bike lanes. Narrowing the streets would also make it more uncomfortable for drivers especially large trucks. The aim is to increase congestion and slow down traffic so large trucks avoid downtown. These sorts of projects would only take 2 to 5 years and would accomplish most of what the city is looking for, Dix said.
Councilman Kemerer referred to this as “traffic calming devices on steroids.” Kemerer stated that he did not wish to pursue these interim strategies if it would jeopardize the position 1 and 2 priorities. “Once you crack on a primary goal, it no longer is a primary goal,” Kemerer said.
Cliff Manuel President of Brooksville Vision Foundation and Coastal Engineering emphasized to council that the price tag for one way pairs reversion, US 98 and 41 projects in comparison to others around the state is not very much. He urged council to stand their ground on keeping the pairs reversion and US 98 a priority. He also stated that the traffic calming devices can be done at any point and the more they slow the traffic down through the city, the more likely the state will be to provide the funding for the one way pairs reversion.
Mayor Natalie Kahler stated that the SR 50 project makes these priorities even more important since it will bring even more traffic to the area.
Vice Mayor Battista stated, “I don’t understand why we should give up our number 2 position on 98… Let district 7 (Tampa) find money somewhere else to build their road. If there is a lot of push and pull from Tallahassee- let them find the money. They may tell us we’re going to push your 98 off to the year 20 something because we’re going to do our Highway 50 thing. But don’t make us voluntarily hand them 98.”
Mayor Kahler clarified what positions council needed to decide on for Mr. Dix to communicate at the upcoming MPO meeting.
“Are we willing to adjust our number 2 priority?
Do we want DOT to partner with us on interim solutions? ”
Council came to consensus on leaving the priorities in place. There was consensus on pursuing other traffic calming methods with DOT as long as it does not impact the priorities.
What’s next?
• Schedule workshop on interim traffic calming strategies
• At least two public workshops will be scheduled for the pairs study for conceptual analysis. Following conceptual analysis, there is the design phase.