Monroe County Hosts Meeting With FDOT & Keys Municipalties To Discuss Traffic Problems

MARATHON, FL – Monroe County Mayor George Neugent hosted a three-hour meeting Friday with the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 6 Secretary Jim Wolfe and government officials throughout the Keys to discuss a wide range of ideas and projects to improve pedestrian safety, enhance traffic flow and address problematic areas along the Overseas Highway.

“We are here to work on ways to help mitigate our traffic problems because everybody has had enough of it,” Neugent said. “It affects us all and it potentially affects our economy.”

The meeting, held at the Monroe County Marathon Government Center, was not to make decisions, but for officials from the County and the Keys’ five municipalities of Key West, Marathon, Islamorada, Key Colony Beach and Layton to voice their individual concerns and ideas directly to Wolfe. It also was the opportunity for the government officials of the Florida Keys to express their unity to FDOT that traffic congestion in any part of the Keys is a problem for all.

“We all live along the same road and stretch of islands,” Monroe County Commissioner David Rice said. “What happens in Islamorada affects Key West and what happens in Key West affects Marathon. We all need to work together and be involved in coming up with the best solutions.”

Issues that were discussed – and that FDOT agreed to look into or further study, included:

  • Need for Pedestrian Bridges: Discussion addressed building permanent ones at locations such as the triangle in Key West and at Founders Park in Islamorada, as well as the purchase of temporary pedestrian bridge(s) that can be used at different sites, such as Rowell’s Waterfront Park in Key Largo and the Marathon Community Park.
  • Need for Center Turn Lanes: Officials from the County and the municipalities brought up several problematic areas along U.S. 1 where the lack of turn lanes leads to traffic backup and potentially to accidents.
  • Rumble Strips: Rice brought up a citizen’s suggestion to put rumble strips along the centerline of the road to help prevent head-on collisions. Wolfe said he got the same citizen’s email and thought it was worthy of consideration.
  • Ways to Lesson the Number of Vehicles on U.S. 1: Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi requested that FDOT look into the feasibility of some type of rapid transit/light rail system. Discussion also included creating a better bus system.
  • Need for Uniform Pedestrian Crosswalks in the Keys: FDOT agreed to continue to work on making the crosswalks safer.

At the meeting, County officials also asked FDOT to look into the possibility of designing the rehabilitation of the Old Seven Mile Bridge to include the running of electricity to the County-owned Pigeon Key. Discussion also included how and where to run the trolley system once the bridge’s renovation is completed – and what can be done regarding the expected heavy use of the parking area at the north end of the bridge.

“This meeting has been very helpful for me,” said Wolfe, who was accompanied by FDOT Traffic Services Program Engineer Ramon Sierra. “We wouldn’t have known about some of these issues because we don’t live here, and we don’t know drive here regularly. … We have taken notes and notes on the issues discussed and will look into them.”

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