The City of Pensacola is developing a plan to provide better access for walking, bicycling, and other modes of self-propelled transportation.
Two upcoming city events are seeking to gather input from the community to better identify where the need is within the city.
The first event is Tuesday, June 20 at 6:30 p.m. where the community can offer comments on the Summit Boulevard Lane Repurposing Feasibility Study on turning the road from four lanes to two.
“Basically, what we’d look at is it feasible to repurpose Summit from four lanes to two? And if we did repurpose, how would we want to reallocate that space going from four to two lanes?” said Caitlin Cerame, transportation planner for the City of Pensacola. “So, with those two lanes of extra space, how would we like to use that?”
The specific segment planners are looking at is a 1.7 mile stretch from 12th Avenue to Spanish Trail. Based on feedback from the first open house in May, community members narrowed down six options to three. The current options include: keeping the road as it is; repurpose outside lanes with a buffered bicycle lane in both directions of travel; or repurpose outside eastbound travel lane to a two-way bicycle track and repurpose outside westbound lane for on-street parking to from Airfield Road to the entrance of Roger Scott Athletic Complex.
“Right now, bicyclists are obviously using the sidewalk that's on the north side, so that can cause conflicts with pedestrians that are already there,” said Cerame. “Obviously some cyclists use the road, but a lot of people don't feel safe cycling on the road.”
Cerame said there is research that shows moving from a four lane road to a two lane road could reduce crashes.
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“So it's not just bicycles and pedestrian, but there can be benefits for cars as well,” she said.
At the open house, people can stop in anytime from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Vickrey Center, located at 2130 Summit Blvd., and talk to consultants and cast their vote. Whatever the outcome may be, this is just an exploratory study, said Cerame.
“We don't have construction funding, but it's something that we'll have to take a look at (with) administration and discussions with the mayor to see what the community wants ultimately and how we can move that forward or not if it's just clear that the community doesn't want to do anything,” she explained.
The Summit study is a separate study from the the citywide Active Transportation Plan.
A focus of the Active Transportation Plan is what Cerame called a “future network plan” to better connect parts of the city.
“We are looking at where the gaps are and where people are trying to go, where those meaningful destinations are,” said Cerame. “We’ve heard a lot of input of ‘I can't get from downtown to further north,’ or ‘I can't get east to west because of these barriers.’ And so with that future network plan, it's basically a map kind of showing where all the connections are and what type of facilities we want, including bicycle and pedestrian planning.”
The Active Transportation Plan will also include a capital improvement plan prioritizing projects for the city over the next five to 10 years.
Community input is paramount to these changes. Last fall, the city released an online survey to residents, which garnered 160 responses. Planners were also gathering feedback at events and public workshops which added about another 150 comments, Cerame estimates.
One of the common responses from residents was the need for safe places to bike and walk.
“A lot of people right now walk and bike recreationally — but that's it,” said Cerame. “And so there's a desire to be able to do more. And then also one of their priorities, No. 1, was, slowing the speed of traffic because people don't feel safe. So, those are some of the main things that we're trying to address in the plan.”
Residents will be able to share their comments on the transportation plan 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, June 26 at a pop-up event on East La Rua Street in front of the Blake Doyle Skate Park. There will be giveaways, bicycle infrastructure demonstrations, and an interactive forum to learn more about the plan.
Funding, designing, and construction of any of the proposed projects is a long way away. But getting public involvement is the first step forward, said Cerame.
“The city is continuing to grow and trying to advance and evolve,” said Cerame. “The best way to understand what the community and the citizens want is to really have that finger on the pulse, is to get out there and ask. It's a long game, but that's a lot of times what planning is, really. Planning for the future.”
