HOLMES BEACH – Holmes Beach hopes to improve public safety at a busy, business intersection and in the surrounding area.
Plans for adjusting traffic lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks and implementing bike lanes for the “city center” from the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives to the 5600 block of Marina Drive — are again being developed.
It’s not the first attempt for improvements there, which in the past have included a roundabout for the intersection, an expanded walkway along the seawall with landscaping and benches, and other improvements.
City engineer Lynn Burnett presented the plans June 9 during a teleconferenced commission work session.
She said drainage improvements will commence this summer, allowing time for the design approval. The seawall on Marina Drive is already undergoing repair.
Burnett introduced Sage Kamiya, a senior transportation engineer with Vibe Engineering, a firm owned by Holmes Beach residents Sara and Jay Calhoun, and said, the Calhouns are traffic engineers who “understand that intersection extremely well.”
The engineering firm is being subcontracted by Burnett for the work.
Kamiya said the goal is to maintain vehicular capacity while improving bike/pedestrian areas.
Commissioner Pat Morton said he is concerned with the proposed placement of bike lanes between the through and turn lanes on Gulf onto Marina drives, requiring bikers to cross lanes when turning north.
Commission Chair Jim Kihm said he had hoped the plan would restructure lanes so the northbound turn lane from Gulf onto Marina Drive would no longer face westbound Gulf Drive traffic, but the traffic pattern was unchanged.
Also, Commissioner Carol Soustek asked if a roundabout, previously considered for the intersection, was still an option.
Burnett said the Florida Department of Transportation barrier island traffic study, completed in late 2018, showed the cost was too high and the draft plan is a better alternative.
Additional improvements include a sidewalk along the south side of Gulf Drive, between the road and S&S Plaza, and a lengthened left turn lane on Marina Drive southbound to Gulf Drive eastbound.
Burnett and Kamiya said they would continue to work on the plan.
Costs for various improvement options will be provided to the commission in July, Burnett said.
The city plans to have the drainage plans and the city center redesign completed by spring 2021.