by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
After nearly a decade of local lobbying, the Florida Department of Transportation may be close to making some recommendations for two major Riverside roads.
According to an ongoing FDOT study, portions of College and Post streets, both of which are part of State Road 228, may be resurfaced, undergo signal and drainage improvements and ultimately be switched to two-way streets.
Upon making the switch, the State plans to relinquish the roads to the City, which will then be responsible for all future maintenance and repairs.
“This has really been going on for a long, long time,” said FDOT spokesperson Mike Goldman. “And beyond looking at a lot of the issues that come with doing something like this — parking, traffic and so forth — we want to do our best to respond to the needs of community and this is something they’ve wanted.”
According to City Council member Michael Corrigan, who also served as chair of Riverside Avondale Preservation in the late 1990s, many area residents have long argued that one-way streets do little to prevent a neighborhood from becoming overdeveloped.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that while one-way streets do work in a downtown setting,” he said, “they really don’t serve any real purpose in a residential area, especially in a historically valuable one like what we have in the Riverside/Avondale area.
Converting Post and College streets can only help to insure stability there.”
Traffic, a primary concern for some as both roads continue to function as commuter arteries through Riverside, shouldn’t be an issue said Corrigan.
“You have to remember that there was only talk of converting them back into two-way streets after construction started on the Fuller Warren Bridge,” he said. “Since its completion a while back, traffic has continued to drop through there and we don’t have any reason to think that will change.”
Especially, said Corrigan, when work on a new interchange near the bridge is expected to begin shortly.
“We go to contract in July,” said Aage Schroder, FDOT district secretary. “And with that, it adds even more just cause for converting the roads. Something like that further supports commuter traffic demands in the area and keeps it off of the side streets.”
Schroder, Goldman and Corrigan said parking along the roads, which will likely be reduced to some extent, may also come under public scrutiny.
“As a community, we’d like to keep as much as possible, because with parking, it’s much easier to stimulate activity in the residential neighborhoods,” said Corrigan. “But we’re still in the process of seeing how that is going to work.”
And even if a consensus is reached on “the minor issues,” Corrigan said the City has concerns of its own. He said the City, namely its Public Works Department, wants to be sure no major work will be required on either street in the near future before accepting responsibility.
“That’s going to be a concern until we have all of the necessary information. We’re not going to accept roads that are in terrible condition,” he said. “Before anything happens, we’ll exercise a lot of caution, really look under the asphalt and into the infrastructure to see what the condition is.
“There’s still a lot that has to be done.”
A public hearing to discuss the proposal has been scheduled for later this month. Corrigan said he expected little opposition, but added he’s prepared for anything.
“You never know,” he said. “Typically, the people who show up to these kinds of things are the ones who have problems with a particular issue, but I haven’t heard of any negative campaigns so far.”
Corrigan said the study will continue for several months and, barring complications, legislation enabling the switches in both traffic and fiduciary responsibility will follow.