Central FL Roads and Highways

[codypet]

He ain't wrong.  I tried crossing Amelia at Lynx.  Waited for the imminent traffic to pass, turned on the beacons and walked out, I had 3 cars fail to stop as I was crossing.  1 coming within 6 inches of me.

[dcluley98]

That's happened to me before multiple times at Amelia on the OUT. Usually, the first car stops and some a-hole behind him gets impatient  and jumps to the next lane over to go around him not even looking to see that the pedestrian crossing  lights are flashing and somebody is crossing the road. 

[nite owℓ]

I think the ped crossing could use better enhancements to make it more visible, because the current street treatments are a bit lackluster. TBH I use that route almost every day to get onto I4 and nothing about those pedestrian crossings stand out to me. The island should be a different color (similar to Virginia Dr) so that it doesn't look like a regular median and the pedestrian crossing stripes should be given a similar treatment to Washington St in Thornton Park. In such a car-centric area, the city should be pulling out all the stops to ensure the Pedestrian Right-of-Way is visibly established to both everyday drivers and drivers who are unfamiliar with the area (especially since Orlando has a horrible track record of ped safety). City planners don't seem to learn from past mistakes.

Amelia OUT:

 

Amelia Ped Crossing:

 

 

Virginia:

 

Thornton Park:

Edited November 15, 2019 by nite owℓ

[Universe_Explorer]

I cross at OUT/Virginia several times a week and have found the combination of blinking lights and staring deeply into the eyes/soul of the oncoming driver as I cross gets them to begrudgingly stop as close to hitting me as they can.   :)

The big issue at Amelia are the extra lanes - drivers instinctively just shift to the lane without the person slowing/stopping in from of the them and cause close calls.  This even happens at Shady Lane and Edgewater with the turn lane, despite the blinking lights. More frequent use of the trial helps, as drivers anticipate people crossing there

[nite owℓ]

Well I never even noticed the OUT crossing until I made that post -- and I use that route daily. I only recently noticed the 2nd Ped crossing when someone darted across the street to the bus station (without using the beacons). Nothing about them stand out. Further ped crossing enhancements are needed, esp since Amelia has double lanes on either side.

[spenser1058]

TV Worth Watching: The WUCF NewsNight panel looks at I4 Ultimate, its cost overruns and the timetable for completion.

Friday night 8:30pm.

https://twitter.com/wucftv/status/1197327769631219712?s=21

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

We are growing... 

 

[shardoon]

I am sorry, but I 4 is not gonna be ready for at least another 5 years.........

[spenser1058]

This is how you run government like (RickScott’s) business!

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, shardoon said:

I am sorry, but I 4 is not gonna be ready for at least another 5 years.........

yep.  I've been sayig this in my circles... no way no how it's gettin' done sooner...

[AndyPok1]

I put the over/under at November 2022, pending further hurricanes that cause a complete shutdown of construction.

[AmIReal]

4 hours ago, jrs2 said:

yep.  I've been sayig this in my circles... no way no how it's gettin' done sooner...

 

3 hours ago, AndyPok1 said:

I put the over/under at November 2022, pending further hurricanes that cause a complete shutdown of construction.

If you look at things from Andy's perspective (which I share) of how this impacts downtown then I think he is correct on his timeline of late '22. When will the final project be done? Who knows, but shardoon and jrs are likely right.

As long as Lee Rd to Conway are complete by '22 I'll be happy.

[codypet]

There's a major ramp closure coming up that they're quoting a 120day timeline for shutdown.  I believe once that ramp reopens you'll see all the adjacent ramps fastrack to completion.  South of Conroy they are pretty much on the last phases (toll lanes).  That said, I'm not sure how far along TPK Direct Connects, but that'll end up ripping up the area around the TPK interchange again, and I believe they were aiming to be built around the time the whole rest of the I-4 project was going to be done.

 

Info for those unfamiliar.

Not part of the original I-4 plans, but started about 2 years after the main project started.

Edited November 22, 2019 by codypet

[AndyPok1]

14 hours ago, AmIReal said:

 

If you look at things from Andy's perspective (which I share) of how this impacts downtown then I think he is correct on his timeline of late '22. When will the final project be done? Who knows, but shardoon and jrs are likely right.

As long as Lee Rd to Conway are complete by '22 I'll be happy.

I'm speaking of the original 21-mile Ultimate project.  BTU is already starting-ish with the first phase of development (I think its actually phase 2 because numbering is dumb) from the end of Ultimate to 528.  So, it will seem like it isn't done, but the original Ultimate project that ends at Kirkman will be.

3 hours ago, codypet said:

There's a major ramp closure coming up that they're quoting a 120day timeline for shutdown.  I believe once that ramp reopens you'll see all the adjacent ramps fastrack to completion.  South of Conroy they are pretty much on the last phases (toll lanes).  That said, I'm not sure how far along TPK Direct Connects, but that'll end up ripping up the area around the TPK interchange again, and I believe they were aiming to be built around the time the whole rest of the I-4 project was going to be done.

 

Info for those unfamiliar.

Not part of the original I-4 plans, but started about 2 years after the main project started.

Oh that's interesting.  They're adding express lane connects to/from TPK?  Makes sense actually.

[codypet]

They dropped the 4th TPK lane and this will connect to that 4th lane which will now be a toll on a toll.  You'll have 3 thrus 1 Express and an aux lane on TPK at least according to my last recollection.

Edited November 22, 2019 by codypet

[spenser1058]

An interesting take on the Lexus lanes. It would certainly jive with whom our Tallahassee overlords enact legislation for.

[spenser1058]

The eastbound I4 rest area near Longwood will close shortly after Thanksgiving. Nearby residents are pleased.

It became infamous in the ‘80’s on the front page of the Sunday Sentinel as “The Sanctuary of Sin” due to the frequent cruising activity.

It is scheduled to become a retention pond.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-county/os-ne-i4-rest-stops-longwood-20191127-wg7hwnfurvc7rpx6kxv6emxfpy-story.html

From the Sentinel 

Edited November 27, 2019 by spenser1058

[AndyPok1]

40 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

An interesting take on the Lexus lanes. It would certainly jive with whom our Tallahassee overlords enact legislation for.

Depends on the cost, but if it allows me to have fully "green" traffic from Disney to downtown (technically Kirkman to downtown for now), I'd absolutely pay $4 or so.

[Jvest55]

Yeah, there basically isn't any price I wouldn't pay for free-flow traffic. I wouldn't expect out-of-town people to use them, as they care more about near-exits. 

[HankStrong]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

An interesting take on the Lexus lanes. It would certainly jive with whom our Tallahassee overlords enact legislation for.

I'll gladly use them when I need them without reimbursement.

[aent]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

An interesting take on the Lexus lanes. It would certainly jive with whom our Tallahassee overlords enact legislation for.

That tweet and "STORY IDEA" has been proven false by looking at the data of who uses them in South Florida along with other areas around the country. Hell, while I was living in South Florida, my anecdotal evidence living in South Florida was quite the opposite: my friends who lived paycheck to paycheck used the lanes all the time, a few of them even used them at night when the free lanes were free flowing as well so there was literally no time savings. My middle class friends were all over the place: some used them all the time, some never used them, and most used them only occasionally. My few upper class friends actually used them extremely rarely, but the sample size would be real small for that.

Plus regardless, in South Florida, converting the HOV lanes into toll lanes ended up increasing the speed of the free lanes very significantly, so literally everyone wins. I could only wish our legislation was always this effective.

Also, one more thing, based on your other posts on this forum, I thought you were pretty pro taxing businesses and the rich, so even if the original statement is true, wouldn't that still seem like something you should really like? Again, in South Florida, the "Lexus Lanes" brought in so much profit, that the toll revenue has now completely replaced all state and local funding for all maintenance and extra services such as roadside assistance, that it no longer needs gas tax/sales tax/property tax/etc for that portion of 95, and even has extra money to subsidize an express bus service on that portion of the highway as well. Is the problem that the tax on the rich is optional and not taken by force, but they're willing to pay it? 

 

19 minutes ago, Jvest55 said:

Yeah, there basically isn't any price I wouldn't pay for free-flow traffic. I wouldn't expect out-of-town people to use them, as they care more about near-exits. 

Personally I'm expecting out of town people to be using it much MORE then the locals.... from what I've seen, out of towners seem to go rent a car to get to their hotel at Disney, then not want to deal with traffic within Disney, not use the free bus option, but then pay for a Minnie Van to get to the parks. Tons of people, when on vacation and those who wouldn't use them at home, because the vacation time is so limited and there is so much to do, are much MORE willing to spend a few bucks to avoid traffic while on vacation.

[dcluley98]

There are many well-documented studies with real data that have proven variable tolling lanes increase the overall through-put  of traffic, even more so than just adding the same number of lanes to the existing "free" road. I believe we linked several of these studies upthread previously. 

[spenser1058]

Once again, the Tallahassee Toll Brigade is being rejected. Tolls have already been rejected on roads in Duval, Brevard Seminole And Hillsborough, just to name a few.

Now, Dade, where the toll propagandists insist the residents love dynamic pricing, are fighting back. Time to fight back, folks:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/traffic/article237883019.html

From the Miami Herald

Meanwhile, I’d really enjoy the Lexus Lane Lovers showing us where people are clamoring for this nonsense. In the state of Florida, we know such a thing does not exist.

Edited December 1, 2019 by spenser1058

[WAJAS]

37 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

Once again, the Tallahassee Toll Brigade is being rejected. Tolls have already been rejected on roads in Duval, Brevard Seminole And Hillsborough, just to name a few.

Now, Dade, where the toll propagandists insist the residents love dynamic pricing, are fighting back. Time to fight back, folks:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/traffic/article237883019.html

From the Miami Herald

Meanwhile, I’d really enjoy the Lexus Lane Lovers showing us where people are clamoring for this nonsense. In the state of Florida, we know such a thing does not exist.

It makes all portions of the road faster. I thought it was a pretty universal opinion that we want to be able to go faster.

[codypet]

 

On 11/27/2019 at 12:49 PM, spenser1058 said:

The eastbound I4 rest area near Longwood will close shortly after Thanksgiving. Nearby residents are pleased.

It became infamous in the ‘80’s on the front page of the Sunday Sentinel as “The Sanctuary of Sin” due to the frequent cruising activity.

It is scheduled to become a retention pond.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-county/os-ne-i4-rest-stops-longwood-20191127-wg7hwnfurvc7rpx6kxv6emxfpy-story.html

From the Sentinel 

I must have missed this.   Sounds like they're just closing the picnic areas and the car lot, but keeping the truck lot.  That kind of makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is putting in a stormwater pond unless BTU is about to start on the north end?  If so that lady is about to get a whole lot more noise than she's losing from the rest area.