Gainesville begins first roadway projects funded by infrastructure surtax

Press release from City of Gainesville

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A one-mile stretch of North Main Street is the first Gainesville road project funded by the portion of the Wild Spaces Public Places surtax dedicated to improving local infrastructure. The City has branded these capital projects as “Streets, Stations & Strong Foundations” (SSSF).

The resurfacing and restriping of North Main Street between 39th and 53rd Avenues began earlier this month and will include bike lanes in both directions. This SSSF project is expected to cost $1.2 million in funding from the surtax.

“The construction work should finish by spring of next year. However, the contractor is currently ahead of schedule and expects to complete the work in early February,” said City of Gainesville Public Works Director Brian Singleton.

A second SSSF project on the schedule is along NE 9th Street. Now in the early planning stages, it’s expected to improve roadway safety and fix the pavement along a 1.5-mile strip from East University Avenue to NE 23rd Avenue. The first step involves gathering feedback from neighbors, and a workshop is planned early in the New Year. City staff also is developing a survey that will be available online or as a printed handout at the workshop.

Changes to NE 9th Street could include: wider sidewalks; additional crosswalks; eliminating parking on the street; creating curbside pull-out stops for buses; bus-stop shelters; and widening bike lanes or creating bike lanes physically separated from traffic.

“It is exciting to see physical progress with SSSF. The City of Gainesville doesn’t have control over many roads inside our city, but it is good to see staff and our contractors ahead of the game on the roads we do control,” said Gainesville City Commissioner Reina Saco. “Making our streets, our sidewalks, and our bike lanes safer for everyone is one of the best investments we can make with these funds,” she said.

Input gathered through community engagement will become part of a report to be presented to the Gainesville City Commission later next year. Depending on which changes the commission approves, estimated costs for the NE 9th Street SSSF project could fall between $3.2-6.2 million.

In November 2022, Alachua County residents voted in favor of a one-cent sales tax levied for the next 10 years, expected to generate $17.4 million per year to the City of Gainesville. Fifty percent of surtax proceeds are dedicated to Wild Spaces Public Places projects. The remaining half is dedicated to road repair, public-safety buildings, and land for affordable housing.

  • Fixing a mile of Main St: $1.2M

    Fixing a mile of NE 9th St: $6.2M

    I assume that in addition to upgrading the area for homeless drug addicts to camp, destroy, and defecate on, the improvements to NE 9th include gutters that funnel tax dollars directly into the pockets of Gainesville City Commissioners?

    Not to throw more tax dollars into the dumpster fire, but I think that for a few hundred bucks we could commission the construction of some stockades so that “neighbors” can express their gratitude to city commissioners directly, by pelting them with various rotten fruits and vegetables, as well as locally-sourced minerals & timber.

    Maybe the Grace Marketplace “Street Team” that is doing such a great job of burning through tax dollars with no purpose and zero results can break out the pooper-scooper and collect more throwing material.

  • This is very misleading and a continuation of GCC propaganda over honesty. This tax was never a part of WSPP that had a year left on its 1/2 cent voter approved tax. The city fooled you and created a new 1/2 cent tax for “infrastructure” already being taxed for AND EXPANDED IT FOR 10 YEARS. What do you think all the taxes we already pay are for? WSPP did not benefit from this tax increase. Oh well, I’m sure they have a lot more slight of hand money grabs in the works.

    • Don’t give all the credit to the city, the county played a role in it as well. One commissioner in particular had the verbage purposely changed because the reading attentiveness of most county voters rarely makes it past the first sentence.

  • I work on N Main between 39th and 53rd. In 8 years I have not seen a single bicycle on that stretch.

    I applaud the resurfacing, but bike lanes?……

    • No way Gville would resurface and restripe without adding it in imo. It’s probably part of their baseline protocol for any road undergoing this treatment.

    • In 2022, the Gainesville City Commission approved roadway design changes that add bike lanes or adjacent bike paths to all new city streets.

      In addition, on existing city roadways wide enough to accommodate them, new bike lanes will be added when the roads are resurfaced. The changes apply to new and existing streets with posted speeds of 25 mph or greater that handle at least 3,000 cars each day.

  • Leave it to the city to expense funding to one of the roadways being utilized the least amount.

    In other news, the city can’t manage to synchronize a traffic signal.

    • They don’t want them synched. They want you to hate to drive your car in this city. They want to inconvenience you for the “privilege” of car ownership. They want to force you onto a bus where they also allow psycho, smelly, drug addled homeless people on for hours at a time.

  • what happened to the plans to resurface Nw 23rd ave. I have lived in G’ville for 40 years and cannot remember any meaningful road resurfacing. It was in the plans for completion in 2023, I doubt seriously that it will be done.

  • The city selects one of the least traveled roads in town to be the first for repair.
    Amazing beyond words

    • I use that road on at least a weekly basis and the intersection at 53rd is horrible. As for bikes, it is Russian roulette. No bike rider with an ounce of brains would ride there.

      • In 2022, the Gainesville City Commission approved roadway design changes that add bike lanes or adjacent bike paths to all new city streets.

        In addition, on existing city roadways wide enough to accommodate them, new bike lanes will be added when the roads are resurfaced. The changes apply to new and existing streets with posted speeds of 25 mph or greater that handle at least 3,000 cars each day.

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