Market Spotlight on Escambia County: Stepping Ahead - Roadway Projects Improving Pedestrian Safety in Escambia County

BY THOMAS EHLERS, STAFF WRITER

Situated in the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 3, Escambia County holds the highest level of pedestrian fatalities in the region, but a number of projects and initiatives are paving the way to a safer future in the state’s oldest county.

District 3 Traffic Safety Program Manager Michael J. Lewis and District 3 Public Information Director Ian Satter are two of the faces behind these efforts. The office sifts through incident reports in the area to help guide design for future projects focused on safety.

“It really is an alignment with the Target Zero idea that you’ll see branded all over FDOT’s information,” said Lewis. “What we do is look at where fatal and serious injury crashes are occurring – this is with vehicles as well as bicycles and pedestrians – and really get into the cause and effect of why crashes are occurring.”

Lighting has been a point of emphasis for District 3, as the district has installed corridor lighting in a number of projects. In addition, it aligned its work with statewide intersection initiatives around intersection patterns with marked crosswalks, which added lighting to ensure pedestrians in crosswalks were illuminated properly.

These projects ensure pedestrians are well-illuminated in the front to the drivers’ vantage point, preventing a silhouette effect that is often present when they are illuminated from behind. While data collection is ongoing, initial returns on these lighting projects point to a reduction in the number of pedestrian-related incidents at project sites.

District 3 also seeks out poor pedestrian conditions, including gaps in sidewalks, sidewalks that need refreshing or other potential hazards that could be built into a project.

A Pointed Look At Projects

The West Cervantes Street Project is a cornerstone of the District’s ongoing efforts to improve pedestrian safety. Completed in 2022, the $7 million project focused on a 2.2-mile section of the roadway from Dominguez Street to A Street, bringing lighted midblock crosswalks, ADAcompliant ramps and a wider multi-use path along the roadway.

Additionally, the project added new traffic signals at four intersections and enhanced existing signals with upgraded pedestrian features. Construction on the raised center median allowed a low barrier and designated openings for pedestrians at selected locations, while FDOT milled and resurfaced the roadway where median and signal work were completed.

“We have not had any fatalities on that road,” Lewis said. “We look at that as one of the success stories.”

In May, FDOT completed a $9 million safety improvement project on U.S. 29 / S.R. 95, locally known as North Palafox Street. A 3.6-mile segment from Cervantes Street to Brent Lane was enhanced to improve traffic flow and increase safety.

Crews resurfaced a portion of the road, adding new signing and pavement markings while reconstructing a three-way intersection along the route. The project added sevenfoot bicycle lanes in each direction alongside six-foot shoulders, while adding crosswalks along three signalized intersections. Similar to the West Cervantes Street project, FDOT upgraded sidewalks and ramps to comply with ADA standards.

“When we have transportation projects, we have to look at the safety of all of our road users.” Satter said. “When you think of a road, a lot of people think of just vehicles. You have to remember we have to have facilities in place as well for pedestrians and bicyclists for areas that are highly trafficked. When you see words like bike lanes or crosswalks, all of that is looking at safety, which is our No. 1 priority.”

The S.R. 297/Pine Forest Road project will transform a 1.36-mile stretch of roadway from an existing three-lane rural thoroughfare into a four-lane divided urban highway, including the widening of Chellie Road to include 11-foot lanes with curbs and gutters. More importantly, the project includes a 10-foot-wide shared use path and a 6-foot-wide sidewalk for pedestrians.

Similarly, the S.R. 196 Multi-Use Path Design Project is centered around a 1.18-mile span of Bayfront Parkway from South Tarragona Street to North 14th Avenue and primarily focused on bike and foot traffic. The project will shift eastbound traffic lanes into the median in order to construct a 12-foot-wide multiuse path, while also constructing 1,700 feet of sidewalk on the north side of the roadway to complete pedestrian connectivity.

One current project is seeking sidewalk connectivity along Bayfront Parkway, one of Pensacola’s most iconic thoroughfares. The district is working through designs, and Lewis has been tasked with ideating the design of crosswalks across the parkway, building in the existing walkways along the street.

A Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study of Sorrento Road is underway, examining how to best widen the roadway from two lanes into four across a 5.6-mile span while adding a multi-use path from Innerarity Point Road to S.R. 173/Blue Angel Parkway.

Last year, the district identified a 2- to 3-mile gap in the sidewalk on Fairfield Drive where three pedestrian fatalities occurred in a five-year window. While there weren’t enough funds to advance the project last year, a resurfacing project in the area was added to this year’s candidate list. The section, which sits between Lilian Highway and 65th Avenue, is sitting in the tentative work program and could be addressed within the next few years.

“In most cases, newer standards have safety elements built into them,” Lewis said. “Just by upgrading a roadway to current standards is a safety initiative.”

Putting The Public In Public Safety

FDOT District 3 holds a number of meetings and hearings in addition to making project managers available for public input. It makes contact with any property owners within 300 feet of right-of-way lines, along with neighborhoods and businesses along work corridors.

In addition, the district uses a variety of means – from updated websites and social media pages to brochures and mailers – to ensure information is easily accessible and constantly updated for the public’s preference.

“We are very active when it comes to ensuring that we have public engagement at the core,” said Satter. “Communities are at the core of everything that we do. The work that we do affects their day-to-day lives, so public input is essential for us.”

Regular meetings are held among all districts to ensure idea, process and success story sharing. Local organizations, such as the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization, which includes Escambia County in its membership, provide guidance to state officials for future project ideas. On top of that, District 3 regularly communicates with community traffic safety teams (CTSTs) – entities written into the language of federal spending bills – at the county level to engage citizens at a closer level.

“That is a key component for us as far as working with our locals in the area to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the community whether they view something as a safety issue or a congestion issue,” Lewis said.

An outside-the-state lens is key for Escambia County for other reasons, too. Much like the rest of the state, the county has seen rapid population growth, and projects such as the U.S. 98 Widening are ongoing to combat the growth and maintain safety as it happens.

“We have some of the largest growing counties in the state and in the country,” Lewis said. “With that comes the challenges of making sure that we have the infrastructure to (grow), and understanding the different modes of transportation they are going to need.”