FRUITVILLE 210
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE
www.Fruitville210.org
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Neighborhoods declare war on traffic - from USA Today, May 2, 1997
SARASOTA, Fla.
Tired of stop-and-go traffic, the time-pressed commuter tries a short cut through neighborhoods on streets that aren't as busy.
Remember as you read this article it was written in 1997 . . .
Here in Sarasota, engineers can barely keep up with demand for traffic calmers. Thirty-five thousand motorists a day travel to jobs downtown. To shave five to 10 minutes off trips, drivers cut through neighborhoods of multimillion dollar Mediterranean homes with bayfront views.
As a result, harried homeowners have fought to have as many as 80 traffic calmers built in their beach resort town since 1990. Twenty-four more will go in this year.
Speed humps are the traffic calmners, most in demand here, as they are across the nation. Not as teeth-rattling as speed bumps found in parking lots, humps rise 3-4 inches above street level and typically are 12 feet long.
Carol Ostling waged a three-year battle to get humps installed on her street after speeding cars killed the family's two cats and nearly plowed down her husband, Robert. He was in his own front yard when a driver sailed onto the lawn, braking just inches from him.
"It was an absolute nightmare," Carol Ostling recalls. "Every other week there was a fender bender. Something had to be done." At times, she says, she felt like screaming, "Don't drive like it's the Indy 500!"
The Ostlings attended endless meetings, made phone calls and circulated petitions because 60% of their neighbors had to agree to the humps.
Since the humps were installed in 1994, traffic has dropped by nearly 50%, to 3,700 cars a day. Speeds have fallen about 10 mph, to 28 mph. The posted speed is 25 mph.
Read the whole article HERE - a PDF window will open
This page was last updated: December 6, 2009
Fruitville Road Project
Work Week starting Dec 7, 2009
Fruitville Road: Honore Avenue to Wallace Avenue (East of U.S. 301) – Motorists will experience intermittent daytime lane closures at different locations while traveling along Fruitville Road (State Road 780) in both directions between Honore Avenue and Wallace Avenue for sidewalk refinements and traffic signal adjustments, Monday, December 7 through Friday, December 11. If needed, the right lane of westbound Fruitville Road at the approach to Richardson Way also may be closed several days for remedial work. While the repair work would require a 24-hour lane closure, all other Fruitville Road travel lanes will be kept open in early morning and afternoon rush hours -- 7:00 am to 9:00 am westbound; 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm eastbound -- for the sidewalk refinements and traffic signal adjustments. No work impacting traffic at night is scheduled for this week. Looking to the future, the application of the final friction course of asphalt on all six Fruitville Road travel lanes between Honore and Wallace avenues is expected to begin in mid or late December, weather permitting. This work will require one lane of Fruitville Road to be closed starting at 7:00 pm each night, with the location of the work zone changing nightly until the paving is complete. Motorists are reminded to drive with extra caution and to observe the posted speed limit in the work zone for the protection of themselves, construction workers and pedestrians, including school children and bicyclists. Fines are doubled for speeding infractions in the work zone while workers are present.
The contractor is AJAX Paving Industries of Florida, LLC.
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Honore Avenue: from Fruitville to Bee Ridge roads, Sarasota: Construction continues on Phase 1 of the Honore Avenue improvement project from Fruitville to Bee Ridge roads. Phase 1 consists of the section from Bee Ridge Road to Colonial Oaks Boulevard. Work on the bridge over Phillippi Creek has begun. Motorists on the roadway are not expected to be directly impacted for a month, but they may see activity such as land clearing and pile driving at the bridge. Advance warning signs of construction are posted on Honore Avenue, Webber Street and Colonial Oaks Boulevard. The entire project will make a new 2.7-mile, two-lane divided road. Improvements include the addition of medians, roundabouts, meandering sidewalks, crosswalks, bicycle lanes, drainage improvements, Florida-friendly landscaping, bio-swales and rain gardens to treat stormwater runoff and decorative streetlights in the medians. Construction will be done in three phases, and is expected to be completed in March 2011.
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Fruitville Road: from Coburn to Debrecen roads continues this week, with waterline and stormwater pipe installation, utility relocations, gravity wall construction, the excavation of pond sites and road construction on both sides of the existing road. The entrance to the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) office at 6750 Fruitville Road remains closed. The office can be accessed through its driveway off Coburn Road, south of the Fruitville Road intersection. Signs have been installed to direct traffic there. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained at all times on Fruitville Road, with equipment and personnel working on the road shoulder areas. Motorists are reminded to use caution throughout the work zone as there will be periodic slowdowns and stoppages due to heavy equipment and materials crossing and offloading along Fruitville Road. The posted speed limit has been reduced to 35 mph in the work zone for the safety of the workers and the traveling public. This project will include the construction of four 11-foot-wide travel lanes, 4-foot-wide bicycle lanes and 10-foot-wide sidewalks on both sides of the roadway. In addition, there will be roadway lighting, medians, concrete curbs and gutters, stormwater pipes, inlet structures, stormwater ponds and a water supply pipe. Expected to be completed in February 2011 The contractor is AJAX Paving Industries of Florida, LLC.
Road Work, Traffic & Accidents
within the F210 boundaries
