TRAFFIC CALMING
AVNA has formed a traffic calming committee working towards, well, traffic calming for the streets in the hood.
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Crosswalk Improvements
Fall 2021 update. AVNA residents working with the City have elicited plans for improvement, generally restriping, of some specific crosswalks and consideration of adding others. Restriping did happen in Sep/Oct 2021, however City staff deemed the requests for additional crosswalks unsupported by usage. Here is a map showing the status of some of these crosswalks. In brief, green is restriping, red is (was) evaluation of adding new... |
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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 has been working with Dennis Hughes, City Traffic Engineer. Traffic cameras are being placed at several intersections (Browning at Shade, Bay at Shade, Wood at East) now, in mid-July, for (just) 24-hour periods of monitoring. She stressed to Mr. Hughes that traffic flows are Very Different here in this neighborhood in midsummer than during School Year/Season. He stated that either end-August or thereafter, another round of 24-hour monitoring will be done, and that the City has additional calculations to include with the results of before and after monitoring, for a more detailed traffic study.
Residents can call City Traffic Engineer Dennis Hughes (via City switchboard 941-365-2200) to make their concerns known.
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 has been working with Dennis Hughes, City Traffic Engineer. Traffic cameras are being placed at several intersections (Browning at Shade, Bay at Shade, Wood at East) now, in mid-July, for (just) 24-hour periods of monitoring. She stressed to Mr. Hughes that traffic flows are Very Different here in this neighborhood in midsummer than during School Year/Season. He stated that either end-August or thereafter, another round of 24-hour monitoring will be done, and that the City has additional calculations to include with the results of before and after monitoring, for a more detailed traffic study.
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.
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!?
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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
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