Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[cwetteland]

Having just scanned through the Ultimate plans again, it doesn't appear that much is being done to address the "viaduct" section of I-4 that runs through downtown.  Am I missing something?  I thought there were plans considered to better utilize the space beneath I-4.

Recall reading somewhere, it'd be a little higher, with better lighting.  Also ,I think on the single street openings (Amelia, Livingston etc.)  the sidewalks would be a bit wider with vertical rises (no way to climb into the rafters).  There were focus groups in place to figure out how to make these underpasses more pedestrian friendly.  I don't know the outcome of those.

[EngineerNole]

Basically "Beyond the Ultimate" is same treatment (center toll lanes) down to US 27 and up to SR 472 in Deland. Part of this will be restoration the marsh just north of the St Johns bridge.  I think I read they hoped to begin in '19, so it'll start 2 years before they finish the ultimate.

What restoration?  I know that they'll have to widen into the marsh.  As far as I know, the floodplain is pretty much untouched outside the right of way. 

[prahaboheme]

Bungalower reporting the announcement that FDOT in collaboration with Orlando is conducting a planning study of Robinson Street.

Hopefully this means that the great suggestion from Project DTO to reduce Robinson to a two-lane street will be considered!

http://bungalower.com/2015/07/fdot-conducting-planning-study-robinson-street

Edit:  I would take this lane reduction a step further and consider replacing stop signs at Robinson / Eola Drive and Robinson / Summerlin with roundabouts.  I've seen this work very well on high capacity corridors in La Jolla (San Diego) and Sedona, AZ, especially areas that see high pedestrian and bicycle activity.

Edited July 29, 2015 by prahaboheme

[bulldogger]

Roundabout with a fountain like in front of Graffiti Junktion in Thorton Park.

I drove down Summerlin today and noticed the brownstones at Summerlin and (I think) Jackson or Church is fully underway.

[JFW657]

Bungalower reporting the announcement that FDOT in collaboration with Orlando is conducting a planning study of Robinson Street.

Hopefully this means that the great suggestion from Project DTO to reduce Robinson to a two-lane street will be considered!

http://bungalower.com/2015/07/fdot-conducting-planning-study-robinson-street

Edit:  I would take this lane reduction a step further and consider replacing stop signs at Robinson / Eola Drive and Robinson / Summerlin with roundabouts.  I've seen this work very well on high capacity corridors in La Jolla (San Diego) and Sedona, AZ, especially areas that see high pedestrian and bicycle activity.

Would it really be a good idea to cut down the number of lanes on one of the best & quickest routes in & out of downtown?

 

[prahaboheme]

^Absolutely.  This is an extremely dangerous street for both pedestrians and drivers in its current state.  

[sunshine]

I would even take it one step further by shutting down the entire street to expand the park. Traffic can go somewhere else or they can take the bus or bike....

[HankStrong]

I would even take it one step further by shutting down the entire street to expand the park. Traffic can go somewhere else or they can take the bus or bike....

Really?

[Pete C]

Someone is going to be killed on either Robinson along Lake Eola or Mills north of Colonial if they remain the way they are. I had a close call myself on Robinson. Parked in Eola Heights and waited and waited, and right when I stepped down onto the road someone whipped around a corner and was bearing down on me. It's insane to have a road like that with no intersections or crosswalks leading to the busiest park in the city. The park has become too popular and many people park in Eola Heights.

Mills is a similar situation where many restaurants and bars have people parking along the street, crossing the street, drinking, etc. Recipe for disaster, especially in Orlando.

[UngaBungalow]

I would love to see Eola Drive taken away to expand the park eastward. Then places like Panera and Eo Inn could run right up to the park. 

[HankStrong]

I've had or seen experiences with traffic all over.  I'm not sure that Robinson & Mills are much different than most places in town.  Of course, I've never seen traffic surveys on these locations.

I live in the burbs of East Orlando and we regularly walk our neighborhood.  I've almost been hit by a car running a stop sign, speeding, person looking at their phone instead of the road, just dumb driving about 3 or 4 DOZEN times in the last 7 years.  I think it's a global culture issue.

[prahaboheme]

As a pedestrian, would you rather cross into traffic on Park Ave or Colonial Drive?  

There is plenty of research out there to suggest that the urban environment significantly impacts on how drivers interact with pedestrians.

[popsiclebrandon]

Robinson is a death trap for pedestrians. I choose to drive to work too often because its somehow easier to make a left onto Robinson from Cathcart and an immediate right onto Eola than just walking across at Cathcart. Its so bad. I did see an OPD officer actually go and block two lanes the other day so some pedestrians could cross in the rain so that was nice.

[John Hargrove]

Recall reading somewhere, it'd be a little higher, with better lighting.  Also ,I think on the single street openings (Amelia, Livingston etc.)  the sidewalks would be a bit wider with vertical rises (no way to climb into the rafters).  There were focus groups in place to figure out how to make these underpasses more pedestrian friendly.  I don't know the outcome of those.

I remember reading somewhere that the road is going to be raised. They're calling it the "Bridge District"?

OBJ article from June: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/morning_call/2015/06/downtown-parking-lot-closings-make-way-for-new.html

 

[John Hargrove]

Not to mention that the lanes are so narrow on Robinson that the buses that drive on it can't even fit in the lanes. It can be mildly terrifying at times. It's not just a pedestrian issue (though, in my opinion, the pedestrian situation is awful).

 

[jack]

If Robinson goes on a road diet, Eola drive could be converted to park land. Eola cannot be closed with adding parking along Robinson. The downside is summerlin is already overwhelmed and closing eola will make it worse. Colonial, South and Anderson are all overwhelmed as well and will be worse if Robinson looses a lane. 

[prahaboheme]

^Perhaps South could be converted back to a two-way street in order to not only relieve Robinson of some eastbound traffic but also to make the entire area easier and more accessible.

[HankStrong]

I'm thinking that any and all of these solutions just push the problem to another street and don't fix the problem.

[Boomer136]

Wow, South, too? Coming in from the East is a beast as it is. Robinson is the only route to get to the north side of downtown smoothly. You want retail, you want people to come downtown, people need to use cars. Make it more difficult to use them the less people will venture. As part of the plan you want a park and ride garage built at the executive airport and a monorail system down the middle of Robinson I could support that, but now you put more cars onto South Street, then Rosalind and clogged up vehicle flow.

[AndyPok1]

Wow, South, too? Coming in from the East is a beast as it is. Robinson is the only route to get to the north side of downtown smoothly. You want retail, you want people to come downtown, people need to use cars. Make it more difficult to use them the less people will venture. As part of the plan you want a park and ride garage built at the executive airport and a monorail system down the middle of Robinson I could support that, but now you put more cars onto South Street, then Rosalind and clogged up vehicle flow.

This this this.  People often get too excited about full-on urbanism that it's easy to forget that we aren't the majority and we have to keep accessibility to the rest of the world to help pay for our desires.

Personally, the girlfriend and myself cross Robinson from Eola Heights into the park with a dog on practically a daily basis.  I've never really had a major issue, so I'm not sure where all these complaints are from.  (Granted yes, it is not friendly... but I guess I don't expect things to be)

[jack]

South and Anderson will have to stay one way. Converting them will make traffic problems worse. Traffic will be worse with the Robinson conversion but I think that the end result will be worth it. People will need to map out alternative ways to get in and out of downtown. 

[Boomer136]

South and Anderson will have to stay one way. Converting them will make traffic problems worse. Traffic will be worse with the Robinson conversion but I think that the end result will be worth it. People will need to map out alternative ways to get in and out of downtown. 

Not to beat my own dead horse but the whole "People will need to map out..." thing is Peter Pan at best and declines offering solutions like the Monday morning quarterbacking in discussions of politics like "The Israelis and Palestinians just need to learn to get along" or math like "I can square the circle as long as Pi=3.2" The problem will be that people will find new ways to move around downtown and then people will start erecting barricades on Livingston and so on. To me the operative word in Municipal Planning is planning. 

Sometimes crowd sourcing works like sodding a whole campus to see the trails made by the users and then coming back and laying sidewalk and landscaping based on those trails. Traffic patterns? I like to see a bit more aforethought. 

[HankStrong]

One really effective solution would be to ditch the brick road crap.  I'm sure the people who live there might hate the increased traffic, though.

[RedStar25]

I love the brick roads. 

[JFW657]

I would love to see Eola Drive taken away to expand the park eastward. Then places like Panera and Eo Inn could run right up to the park. 

I would hate to lose that beautiful, tree canopied divided brick street which I feel adds to the ambience of the area.

Big price to pay just to have direct access to a restaurant & a hotel from the park.