Concerns lead DIA to add traffic and transportation experts to Brooklyn

[thelakelander]

By Max Marbut, Staff Writer

A proposal to develop a road diet for the Brooklyn neighborhood may hit a detour after Downtown Investment Authority board members directed that transportation planners and traffic engineers be consulted on the project.
Authority staff recommended a request for proposals for a study of Forest and Park streets and Riverside Avenue to develop a conceptual plan to make the area around Unity Plaza and The Fresh Market shopping center more accommodating for bicyclists and pedestrians and to better connect Brooklyn and LaVilla.

Aundra Wallace, authority CEO, said at the board's monthly meeting Wednesday the proposal is the result of discussions with stakeholders to "make sure we have the right kind of pedestrian mobility."

Apprised of the proposal before the meeting, Denise Bunnewith, planning director for the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, said a road diet means creating narrower roadways with wider sidewalks for pedestrians and the creation of bike lanes.

That's an option, she said, if traffic volume in the area under consideration is flat or declining.

"There has been a lot of new development in that corridor and there's more traffic," Bunnewith said. "It's probably not the best time for a road diet in that corridor."

Full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=547230

[Kerry]

Ah rats...  Approving a 20 pump gas station at Forrest and Park is going to do nothing to lower traffic volumes.  The best time for a road diet is NOW.  Typical Traffic Planner (someone who plans to create more traffic).  It must be nice to have a job that creates its own need for the job.

[Captain Zissou]

Why were they not consulted before now??  That seems pretty obvious.