New Smyrna Beach public forum to discuss Washington Street project
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — It’s one of the most popular and important streets in the city. But it has also been the site of several traffic accidents and a concern for pedestrians for years.
That is why the city has an improvements project in the works for Washington Street. With a grant of just over $1 million from the Florida Department of Transportation, the project is in its conceptual design phase.
Because of Washington Street’s importance in the city — both as home to several businesses and as a thoroughfare — officials want the public’s involvement in this early stage.
Duss Street:Black Heritage Museum gets latest upgrade in ongoing NSB Duss Street project
Greenlawn Manor:New Smyrna Beach affordable senior housing project underway
More:Family, colleagues pay tribute to late New Smyrna Beach Mayor James Vandergrifft
On Tuesday, the city invited residents to a forum in the James W. Hathaway Chambers on Sams Avenue to discuss the design ideas so far proposed for the project.
The city applied for the grant just over a year ago — for years residents have noticed the often dangerous conditions for pedestrians and drivers at some of the intersections along the particular stretch of Washington Street between Florida State Road A1A and Riverside Drive.
“Primarily, the improvements are vehicular-oriented,” said City Engineer Kyle Fegley at the forum. “But we are also taking into consideration utility improvements.”
Don Bieger is a representative of DRMP, Inc., an Orlando-based engineering firm hired by the city in March of 2021 to design the project. Bieger gave a presentation detailing how the proposed design would attempt to address safety concerns while keeping the aesthetic aspect in mind.
The “design goals,” according to the presentation, are to “improve safety, improve and slow traffic patterns, improve pedestrian experience, create Washington Street character, and unify the streetscape.”
For segments in between the intersections, the design proposes 8-foot sidewalks with 4-by-8-foot palm trees every 40 feet on both sides of the road, both giving pedestrians space to walk in and out of businesses and residences and giving life and character to the street.
The design for the intersections (mainly the ones at Faulkner and Orange streets) have another approach, as they present their own particular challenges.
The design features 32-inch-wide brick medians installed with 20-foot double light poles to help improve the street’s overall layout so drivers can better navigate – especially at night – thus improving pedestrian safety as well.
The use of medians was not a very popular idea with some residents who also own businesses close to or on Washington Street, with some expressing their concerns over how the changes might affect larger vehicles.
Bieger said that the 10-foot-wide lanes (plus 2 feet of curb) will accommodate larger vehicles. He said the city’s fire department reviewed the design before Tuesday’s presentation and the feedback was positive.
‘We have to do something’
Although the median idea is proposed for the intersection of Faulkner and Washington streets, it is the notoriously dangerous intersection with Orange Street that the project offers the most significant change.
The conceptual design for the median is the same for the Faulkner Street intersection, but with the added detail that the median would extend along Orange Street and force drivers traveling on either side of Washington Street to turn.
Many at the forum recalled that the area is particularly dangerous for pedestrians, as drivers are often not cautious to slow down and/or watch for pedestrians trying to cross because of poor signage or blind spots when making turns.
While many voiced concerns over possible disruption to area traffic, others said that addressing safety in that area is critical.
Linda Byrd, owner of the Crimson House wine bar (which is located exactly at the Orange and Washington streets intersection), said at the forum that she would like to see these concerns addressed, even if they affected her business.
“What you don’t see, unless you live in that corner, is the number of ‘almost accidents’ there are every single day,” Byrd said. “I’m scared to death all the time for our customers, for our employees, our neighbors that are walking down the sidewalk and all of the sudden a car is swerving to miss somebody and coming onto the sidewalk.”
She said that the improvements are especially important at this time, because as new businesses move to the area, they will attract more vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
“I really hope we hurry up and do this, because we have to do something,” Byrd said. “It could potentially hurt my business to put the median there, but I’m supportive of it because I see how dangerous it is.”
After the forum, Bieger said that he thought the response was positive and said DRMP engineers will now consider the community feedback received on Tuesday.
“To me this was a very good group — very educated,” Bieger said. “And when you get highly educated people in here, you get your challengers. It was good.”
Bieger said that the project would take between 12 to 14 months to be completed after the City Commission gives its final approval on the proposed design.
“This isn’t a traffic calming job,” he added. “This is ‘How do we add pedestrians to this? How do we keep the safety and the flow?’, but also ‘How do we enhance (Washington Street)?”
