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| Traffic was backed up from the Wal Mart at Sorrento and Blue Angel all the way to the "Roundabout" at Johnson's Beach Road and Perdido Key Drive on Perdido Key Saturday.... |
Extra signage. Extra rumble strips. Additional lighting. And still even more signage.
Yet the complaints about the Perdido Key roundabout (which was supposed to improve safety and movement in, out, and through Perdido Key) appears to be a problem. Now I am wondering---Is this roundabout helping or HAMPERING the flow of traffic into and out of Perdido Key?
I've spoken to our traffic engineer this weekend and we are going to get to the bottom of the issue and answer that question---scientifically---over the next several weeks. Then, we will decide a potentially new course to take.
Because once this portion of the district reverted back to D1 in January of 2022 after redistricting in 2021--the roundabout was already engineered, designed and funded by the previous commissioner from this area. On top of that--I was assured that the roundabout was the preferred option that was voted upon by the citizens by a large margin after multiple open house meetings out there prior to 2022.
So upon assumption of this area I moved forward with construction which is now completed. And I have been out there multiple times and driven through the roundabout from every direction with no problem. But others are having problems.....
And now that it is constructed---I am having a hard time finding anyone, literally anybody who will publicly claim they "like" the roundabout or "support" the county's construction of it. And I can't even find anyone from this supposed "majority" who supported it initially. They've pulled a D.B. Cooper on me.
I am finding complaints though. Lots. "It's not big enough" is one common one I am hearing.
"It's backing things up" is another. "There are a lot more wrecks now!" is yet another.
Yes---there have been a number of wrecks, and also multiple persons have blown through the roundabout, straight through it, damaging signage and plantings which had to be replaced at county expense. According to one angry citizen: "I hope they [the county] figure it out. I got a feeling until the turnabout is gone and some alternative turn lanes is put in the problem will continue. The 35' ACE Hardware delivery truck that's route takes it through there twice a week had to stop and back up and eventually just crossed striaight over the mediun in order to get through. Impossible for any emergency vehicle or delivery truck of any size getting through without resorting to doing the same. The ACE driver has reported it to the owner of ACE hardware who also told me the same thing."
An official very familiar with the issue summed it up succinctly: "There isn't much we can do when both roads are backed up and headed in the same direction..we can't do anything to make people move quicker across the bridge and not back up through the intersection. Too many people on too narrow of a road."
So we are going to do an analysis and apply an appropriate fix. That's what we are going to do.
stay tuned.
