Flamingo Calls for Corrective Action on FDOT Alton Road Plan

Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association is opposed to the FDOT plan for the reconstruction of Alton Road and seeks your support and assistance to require the Florida Department of Transportation to adequately address concerns of surrounding neighborhoods with the project. Alton Road reconstruction is a once in 50 year event to properly address the multiple needs of all user groups – multi modal mobility options for pedestrians, bikers, autos, and transit users, contribute to a functional environment for business and with trees, landscaping and street furniture foster an attractive and safe neighborhood for our residents and visitors.


Concerns with FDOT Plan

The Process of adoption failed to provide community input, discussion and participation in the final decision-making;

The South Beach neighborhoods adjoining Alton Road are characterized by a pedestrian oriented urban design fabric that serves an outstanding amenity for local residents and a major attraction for visitors. The maintenance of such character is a high priority in one of Florida's most highly dense and highly neighborhoods. The proposed Alton Road plan does irreparable damage to the character of our adjoining neighborhoods.

Creation of 13’ wide outside traffic lane, fosters an unacceptable high rate of speed along the Road; This condition would also require that pedestrians cross an unacceptably wide roadway; The crossing width must be shortened to limit the amount of time pedestrians take to cross the “kill zone”;

Additional safety measures must be incorporated into the program: The speed limits on Alton must be reduced from 35 mph to 30 mph; No-turn-on-red restrictions should be incorporated at intersections with heavy foot traffic;

The current plan provides inadequate pedestrian amenities and lack of support for local businesses; All intersections should provide crosswalks and traffic controls to meet pedestrian needs; Meager sized sidewalk and planting area: Narrowing the sidewalks and swales limit the landscaping and makes the street less friendly to pedestrians, shoppers, neighborhood businesses and sidewalk cafes;

The highly pedestrian environment requires automatic pedestrian Walk signalization as the lights change rather than requiring push buttons. Many people either don't know to press the button or arrive at the crosswalk at or near the time the signal changes. It is unacceptable to force those pedestrians to wait another vehicle cycle.

The current “solution” for Alton Road is worse and more auto-oriented than it is today; In fighting to remove the bike lane, nothing was gained that the removal of the bike lane was supposed to create;

Our proposal for a shared-use pedestrian/bike path would satisfy the need and statutory requirement for biking facilities, and in our high-density urban corridor this is far safer for both bikes and pedestrian safety than a sharrow on a widened street with faster-moving traffic.

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Complete Statement with Images and Community Reflections