Residents, town compromise on alterations to Country Club Shores project

Changes to the medians in the Country Club Shores turn lane project are coming in response to concerns raised by residents. 

The turn lane project will add turn lanes to some of the Country Club Shores neighborhood and, included within the project, are five curbed medians. The idea of medians caused strife among some Country Club Shores residents who claimed the medians were doing more harm than good. 

There are five medians throughout the project, the longest of which is closest to the main entrance to Country Club Shores IV. 

The proposed change would pull this median south by about 75 feet, thus decreasing the length of the median by that length. 

“That would still leave plenty of median remaining, and leave at least two or three extra car lengths beyond what was there before to allow time and space for a person to pull out and stage in the center,” said Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman. 

The other four medians will also be shorter, but by about 50 feet. Shortening those medians by any more feet would leave almost no median, Brownman said.

Residents agreed the project overall would help safety turning into the neighborhoods, but were concerned that having long medians in the center of the road would inhibit the ability to turn left out of the neighborhoods.

The main safety concern was the decreased ability to “stage” in the center lane when turning left and waiting for a break in traffic. 

After hearing the safety concerns from residents, Brownman said the town reached out to the project management team in mid-February to determine the best way to approach a design amendment. 

The project team told Brownman the town needed to talk to design staff with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) about the proposed amendments. Gulf of Mexico Drive (GMD) is a state-owned road, and the initial addition of medians was an FDOT request. 

"They responded back fairly quickly that, while shortening the median ends is not ideal, they would be willing to authorize the town to try it out based on the concerns heard by the neighborhoods," Brownman said.

This was significant progress toward a compromise, but Brownman added, since GMD is owned by the FDOT, the department can change in the future or lengthen the medians back to the original design.

“If in the future, there’s an operational issue or safety issue that arises as a direct result of pulling those curbs further south, FDOT reserves the right to make modifications or restore those curbs,” Brownman said.

While shortening the medians is not ideal from the FDOT’s perspective, the project team and Brownman agree the changes are acceptable and will help put some residents’ minds at ease. 

“We actually expect it will work very well,” Brownman said. 

Lynn Larson, who lives in Country Club Shores IV, was involved in the compromise and said the residents’ focus was always safety. 

“We worked with the town and the town was able to work out a compromise,” Larson said. “The FDOT was very receptive to helping keep the residents happy and safe.”

Larson feels many Country Club Shores IV residents were happy with the proposed changes. 

“I think it was a good compromise,” she said. 

The town will need to work through the FDOT Local Agency Program and revise the engineering design, ensure everything looks good to the project team, and send it off for approval from the FDOT. 

Changes in the engineering design also change the quantity of materials required, since lessening the medians would require less concrete and landscaping. 

While this happens in the background, the project construction can proceed. Construction crews are laying out traffic barriers and starting excavation work, meaning they are not yet starting concrete work. 

Aside from the medians, the turn lane project includes widening about one mile of Gulf of Mexico Drive by 12 feet to become a 44-foot-wide road that will include two 11-foot travel lanes, a 10-foot turn lane and two 6-foot paved shoulders. 

It’s taken the town about eight years to reach this point in the project.

One of the main delays was funding. When the FDOT required the addition of medians and changed the scope of the project, the cost estimate rose from $1.4 million to about $2.6 million. The town then negotiated with the FDOT to increase its original reimbursement agreement, which it agreed to do for the full amount.