FDOT and the City of Gainesville to host public meeting for the proposed lane repurposing of NW 8th Avenue (SR 20)
Press release from Florida Department of Transportation
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – FDOT and the City of Gainesville will host a public meeting to discuss the proposed lane repurposing of State Road 20 (NW 8th Avenue) between NW 6th Street and N Main Street in Gainesville, FL. The public meeting will be held Tuesday, May 2 with an informal open house from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and a formal presentation and public comment period beginning at 6 p.m. Citizens may participate in person at the Thomas Center, Building A, 302 NE 6th Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601 or online at nflroads.com/VPH. Citizens may also participate by phone at (415) 655-0060, access code: 470-896-211.
FDOT and the City of Gainesville are proposing the following modifications: eliminate a single eastbound and westbound lane of NW 8th Avenue and add a 7-foot buffered bicycle lane in both directions throughout the project limits.
Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, or family status. Persons who require accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or who require translation services (at no charge) should contact Daryl Goss at least seven days in advance at (386) 961-7837 or daryl.goss@dot.state.fl.us.
Have they done a study of how many bikers use that road? I doubt it is very many. Put in a traffic signal at NW 2nd Street and 8th Avenue… that would actually do something helpful and probably cost less. A 7-foot-wide bike lane is big enough to drive an oversized SUV through. The whole idea sounds half-baked. The police might get stuck in traffic more often since the police station is right there. How about exercising some good judgment and financial restraint for once?
Bikes should have to get registered & have tags and pay for those bike lanes to share the road with cars and give them tickets when they don’t follow road rules.
The whole point of doing road construction is to make a certain experience more convenient and likeable. It’s how your grandparents and parents bought into driving a car because we demolished sections of our cities to build and expand existing roadways.
This is necessary, desired, and wanted by the people. This has been shown time and time again in cities around the world to reduce long-term costs for the State, local government, and the people who live there. This will reduce traffic and improve overall road safety.
You should really look up the cost of asphalt and why all this car infrastructure is terrible for our long-term financial health.
umm.. No.. 😉 pass. instead of paying likely millions on changing a small stretch of road, that will likely benefit few, why not look into a dedicated west/east bicycle/multi-use path in the area, to possibly connect with the north south trail already in the area?
It’s not going to cost millions of dollars. You should see the details of the project. Also, in the road construction world, changes to small areas do have real perceived benefits to other areas. Making all of 8th Avenue two lanes is great for everyone who lives near this area.
Project details: https://nflroads.com/ProjectDetails?p=5544&f=1
Hey City and GPD it must be nice to redesign the “unsafe” roads adjacent to yourselves as you simultaneously refuse to address the city-wide traffic issues. Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers have become a huge problem all over the city…this can be corrected easily via law enforcement…constrictive road redesigns not needed unless for red herring reasons like the coveted walkable UN model city title that you dream of. You are making major mistakes and spitting in the faces of citizens.
A total of 14 feet for bycycle lanes? Why not make the whole road a bicycle lane and ban cars.
Good idea. That current hideous 4-lane stretch is ugly and dangerous. By the way, when are Chestnut funeral home moving to their future site near Citizens Field park?
They’ll definitely be closer to their customers.😉
Always trying to impede smooth traffic flow crosstown. SMH.
Bicycles should have to pay their fair share for bike lanes. Require bikes to have license tags to share the road with cars and go ahead with the 7’ BS bike lanes. Follow the traffic rules too
Or get a ticket….
Will there be fewer intersections for panhandlers?
What a waste of money! The City is supposed to be cutting its budget, but they still can’t stop themselves from wasting money on projects like this that make the traffic situation worse and benefit very few people.
This is an FDOT project not a City of Gainesville Public Works project. Also, known fact in the Transportation world that doing road diets, such as this project proposal, reduces costs for municipalities, the people in that city, and the state.
You can read the project details here: https://nflroads.com/ProjectDetails?p=5544&f=1
What utter bull crap!!!! There is a police station right there and the cops need to get of the station pronto at times, even with it being 4 lanes there are times it takes awhile for them to get out. There is NO need to make this a two lane road, the COG has already screwed Main Street with this crap and on 8 Av between 34th ST and the merge into one lane at the top of the hill. The bicyclists are fine !!!!! Stop wasting money!! Remember CoG, you won’t be getting the big bucks from GRU no more!
Choking down roadways is the way the city wants you to use RTS or ride a bike/walk. However, years ago the city opted to widen roadways for the future growth. Look at all of the huge 4 lane roads that were built like 6th street, NE 1st blvd, NE 2nd street, Main street and so on. In any other city USA roads are typically widened to relieve traffic congestion. But not here… the libtards keep getting their way and the rest of the public gets shafted.
It’s called induced demand. When you make driving more convenient and try to have record growth, you get more traffic regardless of how many roads or lanes you have. Cities are meant for people not cars. We should be building our roads and streets in this way to reduce traffic, improve safety, and make getting around easier.
If you don’t believe me that’s fine, but you should believe NACTO, which is made up of actual experts in this stuff: https://nacto.org/docs/usdg/induced_traffic_and_induced_demand_lee.pdf
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard all year. Congratulations.
Well, regardless of how you feel, there’s mountains of evidence proving I’m right. Either way, FDOT and the other agencies knows this is a problem, so it’ll most likely change whether you want it to or not.
Based on your inability to use singular and plural forms of words correctly – grade school English – I seriously doubt you possess the mental capacity to interpret whatever evidence you “feeeel” there is.
You have nothing of value to add to this conversation. Thank you for making that abundantly clear by invalidating my argument due to simple grammatical errors.
Since I am in the presence of a great English speaker, perhaps you are aware of the multiple fallacies you are committing. You should try and read up on them if you are going to sell yourself online as some sort of great intellectual.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/logic_in_argumentative_writing/fallacies.html
I’d be worried about the heightened risk of collisions between the hordes of bikers drawn there and the Hatchetbury’s clientele pulling in or out.
That is certainly a valid concern; however, there are studies which have shown that there is greater safety in numbers. I hope there aren’t people who just want to cause harm with their vehicles.
Still, this project proposal allows for future modifications later. If you’re a pedestrian, the wider sidewalks will also be safer if you just want to walk. There are plenty of good options here for everyone who wants to travel through this stretch.
You can see the project details here: https://nflroads.com/ProjectDetails?p=5544&f=1
How is GPD supposed to get to Crime Central if the number 1 road eastbound from the Cop-shop is narrowed?
No, bad idea. There is not the bike traffic to warrant this and with students using scooters, no chance it will increase.
And Uber. Many students will call an Uber instead of walking 4 or 5 blocks. As a longtime Gainesville resident and bicyclist myself, it is obvious that bicycles are way less popular now than in years past.
Mr. Peabody , you should know by now nothing done by the City of Gainesville Leaders from behind does not have anything to do with
common sense. Never has and Never will. Look what they did to Mainstreet.