updated 1.31.2012What do Venice residents want their community to be?
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Monday, January 23, the MPO voted to spend millions in tax money to widen the Venice Bypass from four lanes to six lanes along 2.5 miles of US 41 urban commercial corridor (no longer a ByPass, now a commercial corridor)
The Sarasota Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will make that call with state and federal tax $ for safer, quicker mobility in the two counties. The same US 41 cost/benefit/risk choice this MPO could (and will) choose elsewhere along US 41 from Palmetto to Charlotte County..Is this truly what the Venice community wants itself to be, divided once by an intracoastal waterwy and now again divided by a high speed corridor with a series of stoplights conflicting the traffic flow? With five intersections more than ten lanes wide, like now at US41/Laurel Road?
Today's Best Practice OR continuing to Practice the Past?
Is there a better cost/benefit/risk? Can $72-94 million ($48 million of it buys commercial property) be better invested to deliver more mobility safely to more people sooner -- the MPO mission. Can $30 million per mile actually deliver an overriding cost/benefit/risk in congestion relief, quicker travel, and better economic stimulation by widening four lanes to six lanes and enlarging STOPlighted intersections? Or, is a greater cost/benefit realized by keeping the entire ByPass four lanes multimodal with modern roundabouts replacing the STOPlights? Red lights make you stop, roundabouts keep you moving. Four lanes multimodal with modern roundabouts is the design advocated by the Federal Highway Administration (Wide Nodes/Narrow Road)Multimodal?
Roadway designs that consider more than just vehicles. Today, design weight is given to all users (walkers, bikers, bus riders, drivers) in a livable context that's sensitive to residents and businesses along a corridor, safely maintaining travel time with less congestion, attractive aesthetics in landscaping, and more sustainable with less air and noise pollution.What does $72-94 million dollars buy? Really?
How much congestion relief?a little? a lot? none?How much travel time saved?20 seconds? 20 minutes? none?How much safety? fewer accidents? more accidents? personal injuries? fatalities?How good for local business on the Bypass ?more sales? less sales? Click pic to enlarge Venice Ave designHow much bang for more than $72 million bucks? ...
What proved widening factors override proved multimodal alternatives which, without widening, deliver congestion relief, better travel time, greater safety, increased sales, all at less cost long term?
Simple Truths: Certain simple mobility truths today are widely recognized by experienced transportation engineers across the USA. These truths argue against widening an arterial corridor, such as the Venice ByPass, where traffic flow is interrupted by a series of intersections* This website cites 9 of those simple truths"> Simple Truth #1: Design Trumps.
> Simple Truth #2: Crossing Traffic Defeats Widening.
> Simple Truth #6: Signals Unwind Slower
Simple Truth #1 : Design Trumps --
Roadway design determines vehicle speed and capacity.
Design trumps signage. Human beings, not metal boxes on wheels nor the FDOT, decide how to drive the roadway presented to them, regardless posted speed limit or other signage & signals. The FDOT decides speed limits in reaction to survey measures of how drivers use the roadway the FDOT designed -- not the opposite. Design for speed begets speed ... and accidents -- more opportunity for driver error increases with speed.The wider the lane width the faster the driver perceives he is able to go. The wide 12 foot lanes on major arteries and freeways invite speed near (often above) the posted speed of 70 mph (I-75), Indeed, I-75 has a minimum speed posted 45 mph. There are no STOPlighted intersections on I-75 -- humans drive at the speed they perceive to be comfortable for moving through what is put before them.With a widened roadway designed for speed (as a six lane ByPass would be), the more STOPlighted intersections (as the ByPaass is) the more braking/stopping/idling/waiting/accelerating to proceed again at design speed. "Stop & Go" reduces the volume capacity of the roadway. This is illustrated in the video at http://tinyurl.com/8x7xh2m.Proposed BYPASS DESIGN
- Widened Intersections: add 2 thru lanes plus turns lanes = Venice Ave US 41 more than 9 lanes wide.
- Posted speed 45 mph.
- Red lights stay red longer to allow for longer pedestrian walk distance across the intersections.
- US41/Venice Ave is a School Crossing, a significant factor during FDOT cited 3 p.m. peak hour traffic volume.
- Approach lanes on US41 to Venice Ave will extend more than 300 yards - i.e. more than nine lanes width that far north/south.
- NO U-Turns signs added is signifcation commercial service truck limitation for corridor businesses. (Roundabouts welcome U-Turns).
IMPACTING FACTORS:
- Capacity increase needed? FDOT forecast at Venice 30% more volume than actual 2009 count-- error.. Center Rd to VeniceAve has had traffic count go down 25% since 2005 -- while FDOT was and still is forecasting increased volume, building now to meet FDOT2035 prediction of "travel demand."
- Bottleneck? with six lanes to the north and six lanes to the south, FDOT actual traffic counts do not support the "bottleneck" feel - e.g. from the south six lanes more volume exits to the six lanes north than enters from the south.
- Design emphasis is vehicles only.
What proved mobility factors does the FDOT have for widening that override proved multimodal alternatives without widening (FHWA's Wide Nodes/Narrow Road) that deliver congestion relief, better travel time, greater safety, increased sales, and does so at less cost?
With reasonable traffic demand projections and a valid comparison of before and after mobility impact of four lanes vs six lanes - signals or modern roundabouts . . .
1) The MPO cost/benefit mission of safer smoother traffic flow soonest is best met, 2) Venice residents’ deserved congestion relief is best served,3) The multimodal principles of this MPO’s adopted 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan best honored. Key: An MPO selection of a proved better cost/benefit could achieve the relief sought by Venice while freeing up several million dollars for waiting US 41 mobility needs from Palmetto to the Charlotte County line.
* The purpose of this website is to present these Simple Truths, each with its own webpage containing links where you can research further on your own.
or click spoken with music
or click http://tinyurl.com/3t365jo
$72-94 million buys what?
#1 Design Trumps
