Barrier islands be alert

Sarasota’s new transportation plan includes projects that will affect the residents of the keys. Now is the time to assure the islands are heard.

By Matt Walsh
| 8:00 a.m. May 27, 2020

Longboat Key
Opinion

When it comes to transportation issues, official communication from the city of Sarasota to the town of Longboat Key often can be described as crickets chirping in the night. Actually, not even that.

“Frosty” is another word. Or the cliche: “falling on deaf ears.” That is, Longboat’s voiced concerns for many years have fallen on deaf ears.

Over the past six months or so, there has been some improvement, but that’s thanks in large part to Diana Corrigan, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association. She has persistently begged, pleaded and almost screamed to have the city address the notorious traffic clusters along the John Ringling Causeway and at the infamous Gulfstream Avenue/U.S. 41/Fruitville Road intersections.

There was also the incident of the mayor of Sarasota experiencing a frustrating trip to and from Lido Beach in February. That compelled Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch to urge city officials and the Florida Department of Transportation to reopen the third left turn lane at Gulfstream and 41 — a situation Longboaters railed for months that needed to be addressed.

As we all know, the city still intends to proceed with the installation of the roundabout at that intersection, much to the chagrin of many Longboaters. A group of town residents even began circulating a petition to stop it, but then the COVID-19 pandemic pretty much took the momentum out of that effort, at least for now.

In fact, if you’ve been out at all over the past two months, driving from Longboat to the mainland and back has felt like driving in September, when traffic is at its lowest ebb.

But that’s likely to be the calm before more storms.

At last week’s Sarasota City Commission meeting, commissioners engaged in their first discussions about the Sarasota in Motion Transportation Master Plan.

Longboaters, take note.

10 road projects on the city of Sarasota's to-do list

The following transportation projects were listed in newly released $500,000 “Sarasota in Motion” Transportation Master Plan for the city of Sarasota.

Expand city trail network (might include protected bike lanes, wayfinding signs, off-road trails, wider sidewalks, multimodal connection plan);
Streetscapes for east-west arterials (10th, 12th and 17th streets — might include wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, on-street parking, decorative lighting, street furniture, ADA improvements, roundabouts or multiuse trails);
North Legacy Trail extension (from Payne Park north to city limits);
Shade Avenue complete street (bike lanes, wider sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, drainage);
Cocoanut Avenue/Second Street roundabout;
Core route transit improvements (“transit circulators” to connect New College-airport, St. Armands Circle trolley route, Sarasota Memorial, downtown, including trolleys, covered stations, transit vehicle priority, pedestrian crossings, high frequency service);
Fruitville Road complete street (wider sidewalks, more narrow vehicle lane width, improved crossings, high-visibility crosswalk markings, bike detection traffic signals, enhanced bus stops);
Redesign Main Street (parallel parking, wider sidewalks, landscaping, partial pedestrian mall at certain times);
Ringling Causeway-Coon Key Bridges (enhanced with dedicated lanes for walking, biking and transit vehicles); and
Boulevard of the Arts complete street (wider sidewalks, streetscape improvements, separated bike lanes, reduced pedestrian crossing distance).

We have listed aside the 10 projects that consultants from ADEASQ presented in a 25-page report to the Sarasota commission. As you peruse them, you’ll see that Nos. 5, 7, 8 and 9 will have the most direct effect on motorists from the keys.

Once again, you can see the city still appears intent on narrowing Fruitville Road between Tamiami Trail and U.S. 301. If you tuned into the City Commission meeting, you would have heard discussion about bicyclists and trolleys sharing special lanes all along John Ringling Causeway.

And if you read the details of this master plan, you can see the primary focus of it is on bicycles, pedestrians, trails and aesthetics. Commissioner Hagen Brody astutely commented there was nothing in the master plan that addressed improving travel for people in cars. Brody noted that fact this way: Sarasota is going to continue to grow in population. What in this master plan addresses how to manage the increase in cars and people?

He asked the city staff and consultants to address that question in the next round. But we already have the answer.

If City Manager Tom Barwin and the city planning staff had their way, they would have everyone walking or riding a bike or a trolley. That’s really not much of an exaggeration. Creating a more pedestrian- and bike-friendly transportation network always has been a desire and priority for Barwin.

That’s not a bad goal — to have more people getting around downtown that way and fewer cars on the road. That’s a good goal. But it’s still a reality that the people visiting and living on the barrier islands will need to use their cars to go to restaurants, shops, theaters and doctor appointments, as well as to run from approaching hurricanes.

Given the fiscal state of Sarasota City Hall (e.g., unfunded pension liabilities, $300 million needed over 10 years for water and sewer improvements, the parks master plan, the Bay, etc.), no one really knows how much, if any, of these 10 projects is likely to occur soon.

But Longboat Key town commissioners, the St. Armands Circle Association and the St. Armands, Lido Key and Bird Key homeowner associations should be on alert. If and when Sarasota city commissioners start taking seriously the transportation projects that will affect the barrier islands, the island constituents should (firmly) request to be heard.