By Phil Nickinson
We need to make up our minds. Do we want our streets to be slower and safer? Or faster and more dangerous?
On the north side of Pensacola International Airport, the City of Pensacola in recent years has taken a couple of reasonably small steps to (theoretically) help slow the traffic on Langley Avenue from the airport east to Spanish Trail. We won’t actually know how well it worked until some sort of follow-up traffic study is conducted; anecdotal evidence is as likely as not to confirm folks’ prior beliefs.
On the south side of the airport, the City is now contemplating reworking Summit Boulevard and has held two public open houses to receive feedback “gather input from the community.” As was the case on the other side of the airport, this has been deemed controversial and divisive, as if the ability to find someone against something is a rarity in 2023.
What’s sorely missing in the Summit Boulevard discussion is this: Data already show that the four-lane Summit — from 12th Avenue to Spanish Trail — is grossly underused when compared to nearby two-lane roads.
That’s actually a good thing. The western end of Summit abuts homes on one side, medical facilities, baseball and football fields, a major city resource center, and the Roger Scott Tennis Center on the other. That’s all within view to a major entrance and exit for Cordova Park Elementary and its 633 students. Filling Summit Boulevard with more cars won’t benefit any of those places, or the people who use them or live there.
Let’s look at those numbers. From the 2022 Florida Department of Transportation’s annual average daily traffic data, Summit Boulevard sees just 5,500 cars a day on its four lanes. Compare that to:
? 14,000 cars on the two-lane Scenic Highway from Hyde Park to Summit
? 11,000 cars from on Scenic Highway from Summit to Langley Avenue
? 12,000 cars on the two-lane Langley Avenue
? 11,400 cars on the two-lane Bayou Boulevard from 12th Avenue to Firestone Boulevard
? 10,200 cars on Bayou Boulevard from Firestone to Hyde Park Road
? 7,100 cars on the two-lane Spanish Trail on the east side of the airport
Those numbers don’t take into account accidents and injuries both recent and historical. The simple fact is that there’s more road than is needed.
So what to do with that extra space? One option is nothing. Leave things the way they are, which is fine to folks who fear they’ll be losing something that the numbers show they’re not actually using.
The other options are to reduce the number of lanes and use that extra space for more parking, or for bike lanes. Leaving aside the irrational hatred of groups of cyclists in funny shorts and tight shirts, the argument that there are far more cars than bikes and therefore cars win and nothing should change should be a nonstarter. For one thing, it’s just not neighborly and reflects poorly on the people of Pensacola. We can and should do better for one another, whether we’re in cars or bikes or walking on the sidewalk.
Secondly, if you’re really against making streets safer for someone on a bicycle, ask yourself why.
The City of Pensacola appears to recognize that we can do better than the status quo. Section 3 of the recently released draft of the “Pensacola in Motion” Active Transportation Plan details using “right-sized streets” and flexible design. It notes that for streets with posted speeds greater than 30 mph and traffic volume comparable to the numbers above — like Summit Boulevard — “bike facilities should be buffered and separated” to help connect destinations.
This isn’t a zero-sum game, even though gaining bike lanes to improve safety for cyclists would, by definition, reduce the ability to zoom around someone who’s actually driving the speed limit. There’s no denying that. But it’s a misleading premise. As the numbers above show, Summit simply isn’t as busy as we like to pretend it is.
It’s fast and wide open, but not busy.
Even if you entertain that flawed premise of loss, the safety that cyclists — be they the “semi-pro” sort that the social media posts really dislike, or the families who would just prefer not to have to drive to the Roger Scott park, fields, pool, or tennis courts — would gain should far outweighs the slight annoyance of having to drive a tiny bit slower.
And as anyone who’s ever driven the more heavily traveled, two-lane Bayou Boulevard, or Scenic Highway, or Spanish Trail, or 12th Avenue already knows, there’s still plenty of speed to be had.
The numbers say as much.
Rick, if Gary gets his own viewpoint, I want one too!
I can offer a viewpoint on any HOST of things right now…
:)
Please email it to me – rick@inweekly.net
There is so much wrong with this article that I don’t know where to start. I need my own viewpoint. Rick, you up to that?
Has anyone monitored the tags of the vehicles using Creighton Road, Langley Avenue and Summit Boulevard to identify what percentage are non-city residents using them as cut-throughs? I live off Hilltop between Creighton and Langley. We have lots of Santa Rosa County-tagged vehicles on both and especially during the morning rush hour coming into the city and again in the afternoon going north. We also have very large commercial vehicles to include gas tankers using other neighborhood streets as cut-throughs. I see a lot of cars turn off Creighton or Langley using Hilltop as a short-cut to get to the other. I have sometimes followed high speed cars to see where they went. Apparently, lots of people headed back to Santa Rosa County in the afternoon feel its OK to speed on both Creighton and Langley. Another Summit Boulevard variable I have not heard recently discussed as a traffic safety issue is the for-profit Gulf Coast Tennis Group that leases the Roger Scott Tennis Center. It serves alcohol. Few know it. As best I have been able to sort out, the council may never actually have complied with the Section 562.45(2)(a) state law requirement to hold a public hearing to affirmatively vote that it promotes “the public health, safety and general welfare of the community” to allow for the on-site consumption of alcohol within 500 feet of Cordova Park Elementary School. Alcohol use is not limited to the club house. I have seen special alcohol events at the tennis center where people were clearly plastered and drinking at the tennis courts. Perhaps PPD could set up DUI checkpoints on Summit either side of the tennis center to nail a few of the drunk drivers. The council knows about the booze. I have several times complained about it to them in writing. I have also complained to the council that the Gulf Coast Tennis Group charges membership fees and tennis court fees higher than allowed by law. Each year the council votes by resolution to adopt rates and each year the Gulf Coast Tennis Group ignores the vote and charges more. I have suggested that the council look into it and force the Gulf Coast Tennis Group to make refunds to those it over-charged. No one cares. Crickets.