Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Addition of bulb-outs and the elimination of parking spaces are among the changes that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is proposing for the portion of U.S. 19 North within the city, as part of its scheduled resurfacing of the highway.
City Clerk Emily Anderson in July made the Monticello City Council aware of a memorandum from the FDOT informing the city of the agency’s completion of phase one of the plans for the road’s resurfacing, which will extend from Dogwood Street to the Georgia line.
As Anderson then informed the council, the FDOT was seeking input on the proposed installation of the bulb-outs in town and the removal of on-street parking at the point where the road turned into a four-lane highway.
In its memo, the FDOT noted that the bulb-outs and removal of parking aligned with the city’s desire to make the corridor more pedestrian friendly. Typically also, per the FDOT memo, the agency frowned on on-street parking on roads with posted speeds upwards of 45 mph.
“This would include the area along the frontage of the commercial area containing Mafia Pizza, Artic Scoop and North Florida Abstract and Title,” Anderson said, adding that elimination of the parking would allow for installation of a seven-foot bike lane.
The FDOT drawing showed bulb-outs on either side of U.S. 19 on both the north sides of Dogwood Street and on the south sides of Pearl Street. Parking would remain in the center of town, but it would be eliminated north of Bishop Drive.
The council indicated that it had no problem with the bulb-outs, so long as they weren’t as large as the ones installed on U.S. 90. It was the council’s consensus that the bulb-outs were okay, so long as they didn’t extend beyond the line of the angle parking.
Insofar as the elimination of on-street parking north of Bishop Drive, the council indicated it didn’t necessarily like the idea, but it appreciated that it was for safety reasons. The council thus declined to comment on the parking, in effect agreeing with the FDOT’s intent.
Since, however, the council reversed itself on the elimination of parking on U.S. 19. This happened at the council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 2, after two business people in the area voiced concern about the elimination of the on-street parking, saying that their businesses depended on it for their customers.