The CRA 2010 plan tackles transportation in downtown Pensacola:
EAST GATEWAY
The East Gateway Improvement Project is envisioned to call attention to downtown for both area residents and beach visitors. Currently, the experience from 3-Mile Bridge has no relationship to downtown and encourages travelers to avoid downtown via Gregory and Chase Streets.
The Bayfront Parkway project envisions a new gateway feature (round-a-bout) at Chase Street, street trees and landscaping to improve this experience. However, a number of other potential improvements could improve the gateway even more.
Recommended East Gateway improvements include:
1. Work with private property owners to improve conditions and aesthetics of buildings,
landscaping and lighting
2. Develop dramatic gateway feature visible from the bridge such as water cannons, light show or Port tank murals of a high artistic quality
3. Encourage development of publicly owned parcel at 17th and Gregory with a signature building. This may be a public or private development, but should offer an urban character announcing entry into downtown
4. Encourage redevelopment of privately owned parcels, such as convenience market at Chase and Bayfront, with buildings of urban character
WEST GATEWAY
The West Gateway along Main Street is considered another key entry to downtown for residents and people travelling to and from the Naval Air Station and along the bay coast. The corner of Main Street and Clubbs is envisioned as the noticeable point of entry into downtown as the ECUA redevelopment, Main Street road diet and Bruce Beach development will dramatically change the area’s character.
A round-a-bout is envisioned at this intersection as part of the Main Street road diet that will further reinforce this gateway. In the long term, as properties to the west redevelop, Joe Patti’s should be considered the point of entry and site and streetscape improvements
should be extended to A Street.
Community Maritime Par k Gateway
A new Community Maritime Park Gateway from the north is recommended at Spring Street to enhance the experience approaching CMP while improving pedestrian safety and the experience in the Governmental Center District and connection to the City Hall Park.
Currently Spring Street has a very wide right-of-way and pavement width and could be reconfigured to provide an attractive, pedestrian-friendly street approaching Maritime Park. The scope of this project may extend to Garden Street, however, at a minimum, and perhaps as an initial phase, Spring Street between Main and Government should offer great benefit.
Recommended Community Maritime Park Gateway improvements include:
1. Reduce street width to one lane in each direction
2. Streetscape improvements with median, on-street parking, street trees and wide sidewalks
3. Significant landscape screening of Courthouse mechanical equipment
4. Potential redevelopment of City Hall parking lot corner should be considered to provide an urban edge along both Spring and Main Streets
A two-lane round-a-bout should be considered to establish a eastern gateway into downtown at Bayfront Parkway and Chase Street
INTERSTATE-110 GATEWAY – PHASE I
The I-110 Terminus is perhaps the gateway experienced by most people entering the Community Redevelopment Area. While, for many, the I-110 interchange is en route to the beach, its design offers no signal of entering downtown and discourages travel to or through downtown. The Pensacola Historic District Master Plan (2004) recognized this as a problem and identified a slightly different solution. The CRA should support a detailed study to determine the feasibility, the best design alternative, and cost of eliminating the interchange in the long term as it nears the end of its useful life.
In the short term, efforts should made to remove and improve a number of the on/off ramps.
Recommended I-110 Gateway Phase I improvements include:
1. Eliminate loop ramp behind Civic Center
2. Reconfigure southbound ramp to merge with Alcaniz between Chase Street bridge and Garden Street
3. Develop a round-a-bout at intersection of Alcaniz and Garden Streets that creates a gateway arrival experience and allows exiting traffic to circulate north on Alcaniz
4. Process as Phase I of IJR (Interchange Justification report)
5. Landscape and streetscape improvements
6. Encourage redevelopment of private properties with buildings of urban character
INTERSTATE-110 GATEWAY – PHASE II
Long term, the I-110 interchange should be eliminated. Once it nears the end of its useful life, plans should be made to terminate it at Cervantes Street with a low-impact terminus near Tarragona and Hayne Streets.
Recommended I-110 Gateway Phase II improvements include:
1. Eliminate interchange and terminate overpass at Cervantes Street
2. Reconnect the street grid at grade
3. CRA to support redevelopment area where interchange is eliminated
Both Phase I and II will require significant coordination with and approvals from the Florida Department of Transportation. Discussions with FDOT should begin in order to establish a long term plan and to identify hurdles and traffic related concerns early in the process.
ROAD DIETS
Downtown Pensacola has a number of streets that are oversized for an urban environment, and in some cases, have more lanes than necessary to carry normal traffic volumes. The project team has identified the priority streets that are in need of a “Road Diet†to calm traffic and create a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly environment. Each of these road diets should be considered comprehensively and coordinated with other redevelopment projects and initiatives.
Phasing of each of these has been preliminarily identified. However, additional detailed due diligence may be required to determine if the timing and phasing strategy should be refined.
New improvements should be coordinated with initiatives resulting from CRA Pensacola
Historic District Neighborhood Plan (2004).
MAIN STREET ROAD DIET
Main Street Phase I from Clubbs to Baylen is not state highway and offers the opportunity to transform an oversized 4-lane street into an attractive, pedestrian friendly gateway to downtown. Phase I will introduce a safe crossing between the Belmont/DeVilliers and Tanyard Neighborhoods and the waterfront as properties are being redeveloped at Community Maritime Park and the ECUA site. A round-a-bout is envisioned at Clubbs street that will calm arriving traffic and complete the western gateway into downtown.
Main Street Phase II from Baylen to Alcaniz Streets will connect the Pensacola Historic District to Palafox to Maritime Park to the ECUA redevelopment. A portion of this stretch, from Tarragona to Alcaniz is controlled by FDOT. Private properties may prohibit continuation of the Phase I proposed cross section.
BAYFRONT PARKWAY ROAD DIET – PHASE I
The existing Bayfront Parkway from Alcaniz Street to Chase Street is a wider section than needed to handle current traffic loads. At four lanes, this section promotes higher travel speeds than posted and discourages pedestrian activity along the bayfront edge.
The current street section also creates a pedestrian barrier between neighborhoods and the waterfront.
Bayfront Parkway Road Diet – Phase I from Alcaniz Street to Chase Street will maintain a four lane traffic section but will reduce lane widths to 11 ft. and use the remaining section for a new bicycle lane in each direction. This initial phase presents an opportunity to calm traffic speeds and connect pedestrians and cyclists along the waterfront at a minimal cost.
Safe pedestrian crossings should be created at all streets intersecting Bayfront Parkway and at key mid-block locations such as Admiral Mason Park at Hawkshaw Lagoon Memorial Park.
Pedestrian crossings should occur at grade and be enhanced with textured paving to alert
motorists and count-down crossing signals to assist pedestrians.
BAYFRONT PARKWAY ROAD DIET – PHASE II
Current traffic loads on Bayfront Parkway do not warrant a four lane section, as indicated by the highest traffic counts on Bayfront Parkway/Main Street currently occurring at the existing two-lane section between Tarragona and Baylen Streets.
Bayfront Parkway Road Diet – Phase II from Alcaniz Street to Chase Street will reduce the street section from four traffic lanes to two traffic lanes with bicycle lanes in each direction.
The remainder of the existing street section will be redeveloped as a parkway buffer between the street and the waterfront to further enhance the Baywalk pedestrian experience. A two-lane round-a-bout is envisioned at the Chase Street intersection to calm traffic entering from the east. Single lane round-a-bouts are envisioned at 9th Avenue, Alcaniz Street, and Clubbs Street to serve as the western gateway.
The CRA Plan also recommends road diets for DeVilliers Street and Jefferson Street (see
Volume II). Other streets; such as A Street, Gregory Street and Government Street, may warrant traffic calming measures that create more pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets and provide safe and convenient on-street parking.
STREET EXTENSIONS
Donelson Street in the Tanyard Neighborhood has long been disconnected from Main Street by the ECUA waste water treatment facility. Donelson Street currently terminates at Intendencia Street and Corinne Jones Park. The CRA Plan recommends reintroducing Donelson Street through the east edge of Corinne Jones Park to Government Street.
Recommendations for further extensions of Donelson Street are included as part of the ECUA and Bruce Beach Redevelopment Projects presented in Volume II – Redevelopment Projects.
ONE-WAY CONVERSIONS
Existing one-way street patterns promote faster travel speeds and reduce way-finding and traffic dispersion for motorists. As the Community Maritime Park and other opportunities develop, the need for traffic dispersion in the CRA will be increased. The CRA Plan recommends converting the following one-way streets back to their original two-way traffic patterns:
• Spring Street and Baylen Street
• Alcaniz Street and Davis Street
Chase and Gregory Streets serve an important traffic movement role between Interstate-110 and Pensacola Beach and should remain as one-way streets. The CRA should consider calming traffic speeds on Chase and Gregory Streets through the use of reduced travel lane widths, and adding on-street parking lanes with landscaped bulb-outs and street trees.
Existing Main Street looking west at DeVilliers Street intersection is a harsh experience for pedestrians Proposed Main Street Road Diet transforms the wide, fast street into a pedestrian friendly boulevard
