TRAFFIC CALMING

AVNA has formed a traffic calming committee working towards, well, traffic calming for the streets in the hood.

And pedestrian improvements...

Monday August 5, 9am, City Commission Meeting, City Hall.  Agenda Item X.5  SCHOOL SAFETY ZONES.  New ordinance being considered to install speeding detection systems (video, photo) in select school "slow" zones throughout the City, to  automatically ticket ($100?) speeders in those areas during "slow" morning & evening hours (which are already posted on road signs).  Zones being considered include, for Alta Vista Elementary, Tuttle near Browning, also 900-1100 S. Shade, possibly Euclid; and for Sarasota High, 2000-2200 Bahia Vista.    See City Commission meeting Aug 5, click on backup for details.  That backup document includes actual traffic counts including speed counts from March 2024, which shows ALARMING numbers of speeding cars in these areas; for Alta Vista Elementary analysis see pp55-56, 59-60 and 63-64; for Sarasota High on Bahia Vista St see pp 63-64.

Traffic Calming School Ave? Speeding traffic has been an ongoing issue throughout the Alta Vista neighborhood's residential streets (not unique to Our Neighborhood).  There's an ongoing push, largely from residents of Payne Park Village, for the City to do something constructive about the continuing problem of car drivers speeding on School Ave; one result is that the "your speed" digital signs, as well as posted speed limit signs, are again functioning.  (School, Shade and Wood are well-known cut-thru streets to avoid traffic congestion on the major road arteries that border our 'hood.)  They've also been trying to get a crosswalk and curb cut at their main entrance to cross over to Payne Park, a very heavily-used pedestrian crossing location; the City continues to veto this idea, citing the two signalized crosswalks recently installed, one at either end of the development.

Hatton Street Traffic Calming Initiative:  After initiating the process for getting a Speed Table on Hatton St between Shade & School (which SHS supports), the Traffic Calming group decided that there was insufficient neighborhood support, and also decided that a speed table there was a bad idea, in that it would cause worse traffic on nearby streets. So this iniative has been cancelled. The City did, however, do some road re-striping at this site and on other local streets.

Hatton Street Traffic Calming Initiative:  Update July 2022.

This was for increasing safety of car traffic on Hatton Street between Shade and School: a Speed Table (similar to the existing speed table on Hatton between Shade and Euclid).  

July 2022 update: request for speed table has been cancelled. After getting wholehearted support of SHS, Traffic Calming committee decided that this was a bad idea that would lead to shifting traffic to neighboring streets [Ed. disagrees] and that, rather than gathering signatures, they projected that they would would be unable to get sufficient support from homeowners, as required by the City.

July 25 update:  the City will instead do some striping and signage for traffic calming on this block.

June update:   the City specified that to move forward, AVNA must get signatures of 60% of the property owners of 41 specific houses within a certain radius of the potential speed bump, plus written approval from Sarasota High School, before early September.  Lisa and Maureen are working on mailings to the property owners (since not all live on-site) and/or going door-to-door, and Linda is approaching administration at SHS.   Correction to AVNA email inviting all AVNA residents to sign petition:  only Property Owners of 41 SPECIFIC designated houses will be considered.

Background:  In Feb 2022 Ms. Mirabelli met with City staff on behalf of the neighborhood to request a traffic study on Hatton Street between Shade and School, with the intention of getting some sort of traffic calming installed on that block.  

The City did a traffic study, results of which (heavy traffic plus speeding) DO merit traffic calming measures along this street. At May 26 2022 AVNA meeting the City presented options to be chosen by neighborhood residents: 1) signage and striping, 2) chicane plus (1), 3) speed table plus (1).  The speed table option was selected.

Crosswalk Improvements

In 2021 AVNA residents worked with the City to request improvement, generally restriping, of some specific crosswalks and consideration of adding others. 

Restriping of existing crosswalks throughout the neighborhood did happen in Sep/Oct 2021; however City staff did  implement traffic studies, which failed to support the need (by standard road planning standards) for additional crosswalks.

Here is a map showing the status of some of these crosswalks. In brief, green is restriping, red is (was) evaluation of adding new...  However, the City is not moving forward with the proposals (other than repainting the faded existing crosswalk markings).

Crosswalk and Traffic Studies

In July 2021, AVNA arranged a walkabout in the neighborhood with City officials regarding resident requests for improved road safety signage and signals, focussing primarily on pedestrian issues including crosswalks, to show them current conditions at some of our most concerning intersections.  Since the permanent closure of School Ave at the High School, traffic patterns have shifted, impacting pedestrian safety in various spots.  Lisa Mirabelli worked with Dennis Hughes, City Traffic Engineer.  Traffic cameras were placed at several intersections (Browning at Shade, Bay at Shade, Wood at East) to measure traffic volume.  

Residents can call City Traffic Engineer Dennis Hughes (via City switchboard 941-365-2200) to make their concerns known.  

(May 2021) Some AVNA members are actively exploring several issues:

School Traffic Zones (restricted speed), including signage and locations. And why SSIS Charter School on School Ave at Bay Street isn't incorporated into a School Zone. !?!

Safer pedestrian provisions, including Crosswalks (or lack thereof), on Shade Avenue between Novus and Bahia Vista, and on School Ave by Payne Park.

New Traffic Signs for Dead-end block of Bay Street off School Ave.  Summer 2020 the City kindly provided a big new "No Access to 41" road sign on Bay Street at School Ave, next to the No Outlet and Dead End signs. On this (dead-end) block of Bay Street, since the 2019 closure of School Ave by SHS, every day we get oodles (is that the correct technical term?) of car and truck traffic, trying to find their way to the main road, US41/301/Tamiami Trail, who then have to turn around and double back to School Ave (often at speed, frustrated).  Alas, casual observation since sign installations shows little-to-no remediation of issue...    Don't people read road signs!?

Speed limit on our residential streets is 25mph
(except lower during certain hours in the school zones). There is little enforcement.

Alta Vista neighborhood residents have expressed concerns, for years (decades), about auto traffic driving too fast on our residential streets. Some speed humps were installed a few years back (particularly around the schools), but they haven't totally solved the problem.  With School Ave no longer a thru-street, Wood Street an increasingly-utilized cut-thru for drivers trying to avoid the often-backed-up Bahia Vista Street, new housing developments increasing nearby density, and the ever-increasing car traffic throughout Sarasota, concerns continue, as does work on solving this problem.

Signage in Laurel Park neighborhood