Florida

[Fred Defender]

Here's one for you guys:

What is the fascination that Florida DOT (SRD) has/has had with "right lane exit only" at some exits only to have that lane re-appear after the exit. They've done it for decades.

Although the traffic pattern has been changed, I believe, an early example was the southbound south end of the US41 Caloosahatchee River Bridge in Fort Myers. The right-hand lane southbound was "right lane exit only" for McGregor Blvd, only one lane crossed McGregor, then the right lane came back as the southbound on-ramp from McGregor.

The Bayside Bridge in Pinellas County is another glaring example - at both ends: The bridge itself is six lanes. Northbound, "right lane exit only" exits at SR60 (Gulf-to-Bay Blvd), two lanes cross SR60, then the third lane re-appears as the northbound SR60 on-ramp. At the southern end of the bridge, it's the exact same thing at Roosevelt Blvd (SR686). Right lane exit only southbound onto SR686, two lanes cross the bridge over Roosevelt, then the third lane magically re-appears in the exact same manner as at SR60 on the north end.

It's a design that drives me nuts because, in my opinion, it only serves to exacerbate traffic jams as motorists in the right-hand lane have to maneuver to get into the center lane. During periods of peak traffic at Roosevelt/Bayside Bridge, exiting traffic backs up the right lane leading people to drive the center lane to squeeze into the exit lane at the front of the line. P**s-poor design.

[NE2]

Bayside is a county road.

[Fred Defender]

Bayside is a county road.

I stand corrected. I'm sure that the design work was done solely by Pinellas County traffic engineers.

BTW...US41 in Fort Myers is not.

Anybody else have any ideas as to why this is done?

[roadman65]

Orlando is now thinking of tracking our driving habits. Yes, our Board of Commissioners wants to place a per mile tax on us in lieu of the proposed gas tax to help earn extra money.
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/central-florida-leaders-vote-pay-mile-study/njnyK/

That means double costs on toll roads.  Paying through your epass and sunpass and being taxed at the same time when riding our toll roads.

Pretty neat, I must admit, the way we pay for everything now in culture.

[Ace10]

Orlando is now thinking of tracking our driving habits. Yes, our Board of Commissioners wants to place a per mile tax on us in lieu of the proposed gas tax to help earn extra money.
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/central-florida-leaders-vote-pay-mile-study/njnyK/

That means double costs on toll roads.  Paying through your epass and sunpass and being taxed at the same time when riding our toll roads.

Pretty neat, I must admit, the way we pay for everything now in culture.

You're already paying double anyway driving on a toll road because you're already paid the gas tax on the fuel you've put in the car (unless it's an all-electric vehicle).

This does seem to make things a bit fairer for drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars, as it would have everyone, no matter what kind of car they drive, pay a similar amount. Makes things easier for those with Hummers and huge pickup trucks as they still need to buy more fuel per mile than other vehicles but they'd end up paying the same amount.

Don't heavier vehicles cause more damage to roads? If so, would that justify a higher tax per mile levied on drivers of heavy vehicles and a lower tax per mile on drivers of light vehicles?

Also, it's super simple the way it is just paying for the gas tax right at the pump. If this thing were to track your actual location, privacy concerns aside, I would hope that it would not charge the tax if you drive outside of the taxable area. It seems like an entire state would have to jump on board with this, not just a city. How would the City of Orlando know how many miles I drove within their city limits? How is mileage driven on state roads (toll roads and I-4 included) that are within the city but maintained by other agencies handled? I think Florida as a whole would have to implement this for it to have any real success, as if it's just done city-wide there are too many variables in play and way harder to ensure accuracy.

[roadman65]

Stranger things have happened before.  Who would think that government could actually force health care on every American citizen, but they did it!

With GPS and other technology they could track when you are within Orange County, FL and when not.  It is not as complicated as you think.

[FLRoads]

Suncoast Parkway project to begin soon in Citrus County?

If everything goes according to plane, Florida Department of Transportation leaders said the project could be done as soon as July 2019.

Not sure if it goes according to plane it will be done, but I bet if it goes according to plan it will...

What happened to proofreading, anyway???

[FLRoads]

Pinellas' "˜Gateway Express' road project nears two milestones

Most of the land has been acquired and contract specifications nearly are ready to go out as the $337-million central Pinellas County expressway moves toward construction.

The two-prong Gateway Express highway project will connect U.S. 19 to I-275 along the 118th Avenue North east-west corridor, and Bayside Bridge to the new expressway, going north and south, with elevated roads to bypass traffic signals and congestion.

Once completed in about seven years, the toll roads should allow drivers to save nine to 13 minutes in their rush-hour commutes for about 75 cents, according to Florida Department of Transportation estimates.

The Gateway Expressway routes will allow motorists to drive from the Sunshine Skyway to North Pinellas County or to Tampa without hitting a traffic signal.

The toll roads will run along and, at some points, above existing lanes in the 118th Avenue corridor and from the Bayside Bridge. The expressway includes a fly-over at US 19 and 118th Avenue, where it becomes Bryan Dairy Road, leading east to the elevated lanes above 118th Avenue and to the existing ramps to I-275. The three-mile stretch now has three traffic lights and bogs down at morning and afternoon rush hour.

The Bayside Bridge route runs along 49th Street and veers through the former Sunshine Speedway property, which DOT already owns, and connects to the new east-west expressway link. It includes a flyover near the airport and Roosevelt Boulevard.

The Gateway Expressway construction will begin about the same time the improvements to Ulmerton Road, in the same area, and the $83 million Gandy Boulevard project in northeast St. Petersburg are completed...

[Brian556]

Just noticed a SR 15 sign that is not on the current route of SR 15. It's on Anderson St at Orange Av in Orlando. It appears to be off-spec.
The sign appears on the Sept 2014 imagery, which exists on Anderson in front of the round building, but not in April 2014 imagery. Move around the area and you will see what I mean. Also, the SR 408 sign was replaced.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.537118,-81.37842&spn=0.000013,0.006196&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=28.537104,-81.378543&panoid=q-kmgZ72H-5JkkSF4FCZOQ&cbp=12,100.66,,1,0

[NE2]

That's a replacement for a sign that had been there for years. It was SR 15 before the one-way pair around Lake Lawsona, and they never removed the sign.

[Zeffy]

I found an old proposal for the Sunshine State Parkway, which is now known as Florida's Turnpike. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is how did the alignment change so much? Florida's Turnpike today follows a completely different alignment, taking it west of Orlando instead of heading up into Jacksonville like this one shows.

[formulanone]

I found an old proposal for the Sunshine State Parkway, which is now known as Florida's Turnpike. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is how did the alignment change so much? Florida's Turnpike today follows a completely different alignment, taking it west of Orlando instead of heading up into Jacksonville like this one shows.

I believe that once I-95 and I-75 was planned through Florida, there wasn't much need for the Sunshine State Parkway route to connect Miami with Jacksonville via the Orlando area.

There's still sort of a need for direct Jacksonville-Tampa route, but US 301 is four lanes nearly throughout, and I don't think we'll see that freeway-grade anytime soon...perhaps expressway-grade in some places, such as the planned Starke bypass.

Edit: Come to think of it, FL 21 around Melrose has had a fairly wide right-of-way for a few decades, but maybe that's for plans to four-lane it one day.

[Jim]

I found an old proposal for the Sunshine State Parkway, which is now known as Florida's Turnpike. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is how did the alignment change so much? Florida's Turnpike today follows a completely different alignment, taking it west of Orlando instead of heading up into Jacksonville like this one shows.

Just curious, what's the date on that map?

[Zeffy]

Just curious, what's the date on that map?

1968.

There's still sort of a need for direct Jacksonville-Tampa route, but US 301 is four lanes nearly throughout, and I don't think we'll see that freeway-grade anytime soon...perhaps expressway-grade in some places, such as the planned Starke bypass.

True, but for the time-being I-95 to I-4 into Tampa is a direct freeway route.

[NE2]

Florida's Turnpike today follows a completely different alignment, taking it west of Orlando instead of heading up into Jacksonville like this one shows.

Eh? It's practically the same alignment south of Wildwood.

[Zeffy]

Florida's Turnpike today follows a completely different alignment, taking it west of Orlando instead of heading up into Jacksonville like this one shows.

Eh? It's practically the same alignment south of Wildwood.

I meant north (or west?) of Orlando. South of it, yes, it is practically the same.

[NE2]

North of Orlando to Wildwood (where the Turnpike now ends), it's also the same.

[Zeffy]

North of Orlando to Wildwood (where the Turnpike now ends), it's also the same.

Okay, um... how about the segment that runs from Wildwood to Jacksonville?

[NE2]

North of Orlando to Wildwood (where the Turnpike now ends), it's also the same.

Okay, um... how about the segment that runs from Wildwood to Jacksonville?

That was a proposed extension. From 1963:

Shortly after I became Chairman I was informed by the traffic and earnings engineers that it was not feasible to extend the Turnpike from Fort Pierce to Jacksonville, and therefore the Authority abandoned the project that was formerly under way by the prior administration.

[Stephane Dumas]

I saw this one via Tollroadnews, about a guy in Tallahasse who built his own toll road.
http://tollroadsnews.com/news/daily-news-briefs-for-mar-9-2015
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2015/03/08/private-toll-road-intended-save-nature-wildlife/24519689/

You know the saying: If you want something done right, do it yourself.

So that's what Jeff Phipps is doing: He's building his own road.

Nearly four years after Phipps announced the project, construction began in January on the Orchard Pond Parkway – the first privately built toll road in Florida.

Scheduled for completion in spring 2016, the 5.2-mile, two-lane road will connect North Meridian Road to Old Bainbridge Road. It will provide what Phipps and others say is a necessary connection between Tallahassee's northeast neighborhoods and the Tallahassee International Airport.

The road will run roughly parallel to the existing Orchard Pond Road, a corduroy-rough dirt road that connects Meridian and Old Bainbridge. The dirt road, like the new parkway, runs entirely through 5,300 acres of land owned by Phipps.

The parkway will be paired with a paved bicycle and pedestrian path to be built in the near future on Orchard Pond Road, which will be closed to traffic.

The parkway will cost $17 million to build. Phipps received a $13.5 million loan from the Florida Department of Transportation State Infrastructure Bank. Phipps has already spent about $3 million of his own money on permitting, design and legal fees.

The road will belong to Leon County, which will lease it to Phipps to operate. Revenue from the tolls will be used to pay off the loan, as well as maintain and service the road. In 99 years, when Phipps' lease ends, the road becomes the sole property of Leon County.

The DOT program uses state and federal money to provide loans for road, airport, railroad and other transportation projects. The loans go mostly to municipal governments, though also to some private developers. Though this is the first privately built toll road in Florida, a similar project in Central Florida is expected to apply for an SIB loan.

"The way we looked it, (Phipps') project met the qualifications of the (loan) program, which are projects that relieve congestion and provide inter-modal connections to places like the airport," said Jennifer Weeks, program manager for the DOT's State Infrastructure Bank. "The (DOT), in general, is looking for private investment in the transportation system, so this was a way to go."

[NE2]

"the first privately built toll road in Florida" - nope. That was probably the Conners Highway.

[Alex]

The path of the parkway shows up on the Leon County GIS viewer as well. I will swing up that way on my next trip to NW Florida to see if any work is underway.

I saw this one via Tollroadnews, about a guy in Tallahasse who built his own toll road.
http://tollroadsnews.com/news/daily-news-briefs-for-mar-9-2015
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2015/03/08/private-toll-road-intended-save-nature-wildlife/24519689/

You know the saying: If you want something done right, do it yourself.

So that's what Jeff Phipps is doing: He's building his own road.

Nearly four years after Phipps announced the project, construction began in January on the Orchard Pond Parkway – the first privately built toll road in Florida.

Scheduled for completion in spring 2016, the 5.2-mile, two-lane road will connect North Meridian Road to Old Bainbridge Road. It will provide what Phipps and others say is a necessary connection between Tallahassee's northeast neighborhoods and the Tallahassee International Airport.

[formulanone]

"the first privately built toll road in Florida" - nope. That was probably the Conners Highway.

Good catch.

Although, I don't think there were too many toll roads after the SRD was formed. Never mind, missed the SRD formation year by a decade.

[Henry]

I think it's interesting that Jeff Phipps is building his own toll road, as most people outside the state don't know who he is.

[NE2]

I think it's interesting that Jeff Phipps is building his own toll road, as most people outside the state don't know who he is.

And most people in the state do?