Intersection improvements topic of Open House

Historic City News readers are invited to attend an Open House being held at the Main Branch of the St. Johns County Public Library located at 1960 North Ponce de Leon Boulevard in St. Augustine in Monday, December 15, 2014.

The topic of this open house, sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation, will be proposed improvements to the intersection at US-1 at San Carlos Avenue and SR-A1A at San Carlos Avenue and May Street in North City.

In an idea advanced by the FDOT over 15 years ago that included a proposed round-about, the property south of the controversial intersection was purchased and now is a landscaped retention area.

Melinda Rakoncay informed members of the Nelmar Terrace neighborhood that their association has received no advance indication of the specifics that will be proposed; however, they have already identified some areas of concern if the plans include a round-about.

• With only one west bound lane coming from Vilano, cut through traffic may actually be worse, especially when traffic is backed up for motorists headed downtown. People who are headed toward US-1 or north on San Marco will cut through Nelmar Terrace to get around the traffic caused by people heading downtown.

• Round-abouts are notoriously unfriendly to pedestrians, since there is no break in the flow of traffic for pedestrians to cross. So a round-about is in conflict with the idea of a pedestrian-friendly downtown atmosphere on the San Marco corridor.

• Round-abouts are especially dangerous for vision-impaired pedestrians, which is why the FSDB is adamantly opposed.

• Round-abouts are confusing for people unfamiliar with the area, which includes most tourists.

• With only a limited area for the round-about, it may be too small to get the intended effect of slowing traffic along San Marco. Through traffic on San Marco may not have to veer much, if any, from their path as they pass through the round-about, creating an unsafe condition.

• The round-about will divide San Marco into sections, and pedestrians will not be encouraged to venture north of May St.

The Open House will be held from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., with public comments beginning at 6:30 p.m. Additional information may be obtained directly from FDOT using Financial Project ID: 434556-1. Any questions about the project should be directed to Stephen Browning, P.E., Project Manager, at (386) 961-7455 or (800) 749-2967 ext. 7455