The City of Pensacola is working to become more bike and pedestrian friendly. And it’s looking for input from the public to make that happen.
The city has released an online survey to develop an Active Transportation Plan that is open to everyone — not just residents. You can also provide input in person at the two mobility fairs happening next week.
Caitlin Cerame, transportation planner for the City of Pensacola, says results from the survey will help provide a “blueprint on how to build out our transportation network.”
“What are people’s issues and concerns while walking and biking and getting around the city?” she said.
And people who live, work or visit Pensacola do have reasons to be concerned. According toFlorida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 152 total pedestrian crashes and 24 total pedestrian fatalities in Escambia County in 2021. Throughout the entire state, there were 834 total pedestrian fatalities in the state in 2021. Escambia is in the top 25 counties in the state for pedestrian incident,according to Florida Department of Transportation.
Solutions resulting from the survey could have a broad impact on the area. Cerame said Escambia County and FDOT are working with the city on the ATP.
“We’re not in a silo when it comes to transportation,” she added.
Outside of the survey, the city has been working on several projects to improve multimodal transportation including partnering with FDOT on designing the Main Street Corridor Management Plan, working with Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier on studying the safety of Langley Avenue — which is ongoing — and even small improvements such as additional bike racks and lane repurposing on North Palafox.
Outside of the survey, the city is hosting two mobility fairs to gather public input. The first is Tuesday, Oct. 18 from 5:30-7 p.m. at Fricker Community Center, 900 N. F St. and Thursday, Oct. 20 from 5-6:30 p.m. at Tryon Branch Library, 1200 Langley Ave.
“People can stop by at any time during the fair,” said Cerame. “We have an interactive station where people can design a complete street and we give them fake money to see how they would prioritize improvements.”
The complete street concept is one where streets are designed to enable safe access of travel for all ages and abilities regardless of mode of transportation.
Cerame said she hopes to get a lot of feedback from the survey, which will be live for about a month. What goes into the plan now helps create a safer future.
“It’s very important that we have a balanced option for mobility,” she said. “We want safe and complete streets for people to walk and bike — and do that safely.”
