St Augustine Mobility Institute

Historic City News readers are encouraged to participate in the St Augustine Mobility Institute; a transportation study conducted by the City of St Augustine and the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization.

This is a unique opportunity to have input on the future shape of St Augustine’s transportation plan; including a weeklong intensive series of public workshops being held at various locations along the city’s three entrance corridors.

Jacksonville members of the Kansas City, Missouri engineering consulting firm of Harrington, Needles, Tammen and Bergendoff, HNTB, will manage this study using a $125,000 in funds secured by the city’s Planning and Building Department.

Workshops will be conducted between September 17 and September 21. By the end of the week, the consultants say that they will have learned enough about mobility challenges along King Street, San Marco Avenue, and Anastasia Boulevard to propose solutions.

The Institute will focus on strategies with the potential to enhance mobility within St Augustine specifically addressing:

• Traffic and congestion management
• Cyclists and pedestrians
• Transit
• Multimodal transportation center
• Private transit and tour vehicles
• Wayfinding
• Parking
• Business access
• Economic development

Studies in recent years have focused just on street use, others on pedestrians and bicycles, still others on light rail and shuttle services, but there has not been one with the complete, overall view that is likely to result from the St Augustine Mobility Institute.

The week opens with a kick off meeting on Monday afternoon, September 17 in The Alcazar Room to allow stakeholders an opportunity to provide input on the needs and issues to be addressed.

Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, public workshops will be held in the neighborhoods of the three entrance corridors

Finally, on Friday a wrap up session will again be held in The Alcazar Room bringing together the results and recommendations.

If you would like to participate in one or more of the workshops, download the Participant’s Handbook from the city website so that you can acquaint yourself with summaries of a number of transportation plans and proposals already completed. The handbook will be a necessary tool for anyone interesting in participating in the Institute.

All meetings are open to the public. Please note that two or more members of the St Augustine City Commission may attend one or more of these meetings.