A Bold Solution... and Invitation!

By Gib Peaslee,

Florida T²/LTAP Center

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Recently, while traveling an eastern Interstate highway at 2 AM, I was confounded by the amount of traffic zipping along at that hour. I had always planned long automobile trips around the relative driving ease late night travel provided. A year ago traveling this same route, I sensed an increase in traffic but this volume increase, in only one year, was unnerving. Have you noticed? Whether commuting to work or just weekend grocery shopping, congestion is becoming the norm. Vehicles inching along, now even on Interstate highways, have created a new threat to the traveling public - the aggressive driver. Imagine the frustration of already harried business travelers and vacationers attempting to get to resorts, customer appointments, airports and theme parks. WOW!

As urban congestion moves steadily toward complete gridlock, transportation planners, designers, engineers and public officials - who often bear the brunt of the motoring public’s frustration - are burdened by community pressure to find solutions. Add the tough economic lessons learned during the 50's and 60's as downtown congestion drove the commercial tax base to suburbia, the increasing environmental hazards created by mile after mile of fossil fuel guzzlers, an essential need to retain an urban tax base, and you begin to grasp the magnitude of urban congestion issues. Technology has provided longer lasting roadway surfaces and worthwhile safety enhancements, but in heavily commercialized areas, right-of-way property acquisition costs have all but eliminated the easy answer - widening streets - as a fiscally responsible corrective measure. While economic stability and environmental issues created by increasing congestion are formidable hurdles, driver frustration may, in the long run, present a greater safety threat to motorists and pedestrians alike.

It is obvious that congestion factors can only be mitigated if public officials and transportation professionals are willing to move beyond outdated solutions. This very often can be a slow process. Planners, designers, engineers and public officials expose professional reputations whenever they seek solutions beyond tried and true professional norms. Historically, effective solutions have always demanded strong leadership. A leadership team willing to make the tough, often initially controversial, decisions delivering the desired long-term benefit, is required.

What can be done?

Much can be learned from the strong leadership and new thinking incorporated by the City of Clearwater, Florida to mitigate a major congestion situation. The Entryway Roundabout project is the first and most visible phase of the City’s energetic "One City. One Future." economic redevelopment plan, with other major aspects yet to come.

Clearwater Beach is a north-south oriented island separated from downtown Clearwater by the Intracoastal Waterway. The east-west oriented Memorial Causeway carries traffic from the mainland to a "T" connection with the north-south street network of the island.

At Issue:

Clearwater's Solution:

The Big Question: Does it WORK?

During Spring Break 2000, the benchmark for beach congestion, the roundabout handled more than 58,000 vehicles per day. There is a lot to this story you can experience every aspect of this project from initial planning through full operation - come see for yourself!

You are invited to participate in a case study of this project!

On Wednesday, September 20, 2000, at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort in Clearwater, Florida, the city will share their roundabout experience in a one-day case study presented by the Transportation Industrial Alliance¹ and hosted by the Florida T²/LTAP Center². In addition to Clearwater’s professional staff, participating consultants and contractors will play an active role in the presentations and panel discussions. Participants will learn how the project developed, review the cost benefit analysis, learn about agency satisfaction to date, receive a professional guided tour of the actual site in operation and experience a real-time operational perspective from atop the 10 story Hilton Resort.

The case study will cover:

• how planners, designers, engineers and public officials teamed to make this happen.
• the Decision Matrix used to determine Clearwater’s best congestion mitigation option.
• each factor considered in creating a balanced design for pedestrians and vehicle capacity and Level of Service (LOS).
• how safety elements for each user category (children, elderly, impaired, etc.) were incorporated.
• how the roundabout reduced vehicle/vehicle conflict points by about 75 percent.
• traffic calming measures employed to slow motorized traffic and create a pedestrian-friendly environment in support of the surrounding business environment.
• why the central island fountain is considered a traffic calming measure.
• why a circulating lane slope to the outside was employed to control vehicle speed. (One month after opening, vehicle speeds were running 9-16 mph.)
• how slow speeds, benches, water fountains, a 15-foot landscaped buffer between sidewalk and roadway, and textural crosswalks combine to deliver a desirable and safe pedestrian environment.
• how pedestrian/vehicle conflicts and crash severity have been reduced.
• emission reductions of almost 50 percent in the peak period and almost 67 percent in off-peak periods.

These and other planning, design and engineering considerations will be presented in detail by Clearwater’s planning and design engineers and the actual consultants and contractors involved.