Bob Oelke,
Chair
954-524-6873
Sidewalks
Traffic on North Victoria Park Road -- October 2010
Broward County traffic engineers have completed a volume and speed study on
North Victoria Park Road. The study confirmed a long-term trend toward fewer
vehicles on Victoria Park Road, and pinpointed a few drivers who speed
excessively.
Traffic during a 24-hour period on October 13-14th totaled 5,281 (down from
7,261 in 2000). The peak hour of travel was 5-6 pm -- with 533 vehicles. (down
from 639 in 2000). The average speed of all traffic was 30 mph, which was
fairly consistent at all hours of the day and night. The "85th percentile
speed" -- the speed traffic engineers use to set speed limits -- is just under
35 mph. This means that 85 out of 100 cars travel at 35 mph or less, put
another way: 15 out of 100 exceed that speed. A handful of drivers exceeded 45
mph, and a few were clocked at very high speeds exceeding 60 mph (although the
engineers question whether those represent a measuring error). Most of the
excessive speeding occurred during daylight hours.
In addition, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department provided us with traffic
accident data for 2008-present. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of
accidents -- 317 out of 533 -- occurred on the major arterials bordering the
neighborhood (Sunrise Blvd, Federal Hwy, and Broward Blvd). On the internal
collector routes there were:
14 accidents on the Victoria Park / NE 7th Street / NE 20th Avenue route (8 on
Victoria Park Rd south of 7th Street)
15 accidents on NE15th Avenue south of NE 9th Street,
8 accidents at NE 15th Avenue at NE 9th Street, and
17 accidents on NE 6th Street.
While not technically collectors, NE 4th Street and NE 7th Avenue experienced
accident rates similar to the collectors.
Over the years, VPCA has pushed for several traffic calming measures on the
Victoria Park Road collector route: entryways that feature narrowed roadways
and textured crosswalks, the landscaped street closure at NE 5th Street east
of Victoria Park Road, and the closure of a dedicated right-turn lane at NE
7th Street. Other measures are available -- each with its benefits and
drawbacks. We'll be holding a workshop to gather neighborhood advice and
suggestions in the near future. From past experience we've learned that any
physical changes in the right-of-way must go through an extensive review by
city (and perhaps county) traffic engineers.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department have stepped up their neighborhood
traffic enforcement efforts. Between October 10 - 26th, they wrote 24
citations on Victoria Park Road. Eleven for were for speeding, five were for
running stop signs and the remainder were for other miscellaneous violations.
It is interesting to note that the average age of the ticketed drivers was 44,
so it's not kids causing the problems. FLPD has promised to continue
monitoring traffic on Victoria Park Road.
A full report (in pdf format), including a full copy of the data from the
county's latest study, the police accident report, traffic calming options and
city policies are available by
clicking here.
An Excel spreadsheet of the traffic volumes and speeds is available by
clicking here.
SCHOOL TRAFFIC
October 2009
Neighborhood Traffic:
A Proposal from Saint Anthony Parish
Saint Anthony Parish is proposing roadway improvements to a section of NE 9th
Avenue between NE 2nd Street and NE 3rd Street. These are designed to enhance
the safety of students, parishioners and other people using the Church and
School facilities. Some features of the proposed improvements include:
* Install four-way stop signs at the intersection of NE 9th Avenue and NE 3rd
Street. Currently, there are two-way east/west stop signs at this intersection
and the north/south traffic has no stop signs.
* Install four stamped and colored crosswalks. The construction material will
appear to be pavers, but will be asphalt. Two crosswalks will be at road level
and will be installed at the intersection of NE 2nd Street and NE 9th Avenue,
and at the intersection of NE 3rd Street and NE 9th Avenue. (They will replace
existing painted crosswalks in these two areas.) Two
raised crosswalks will also be installed. These “tabletops” will act as visual
and physical traffic-calming devices and connect main Church doors to School
entrances.
* Construct curb “popouts” with landscaping along east and west sides of NE
9th Avenue and at the corners of NE 2nd and NE 3rd Streets to keep parked cars
from crowding the intersection and blocking views. The popouts will come out
the depth of the curbside parallel parking spaces.
Saint Anthony Parish will make a presentation at the November 4 VPCA monthly
meeting and is asking for Association support of these proposed enhancements.
We hope you will make plans to attend.
VPCA's Traffic Committee recently met with the principal of Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School and members of St. Anthony's parish and school to address traffic conditions around the schools (7th to 11th Avenues between Broward Blvd and 3rd Street). Our goals are to:
As part of this process we are exploring various proposals. Some possible solutions are rerouting school bus traffic in the mornings down 7th Ave rather than 11th Ave and a four-way stop at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 2nd Street. We also discussed the "school zone" signs and traffic on Broward Blvd. St. Anthony's has proposed rerouting traffic on 9th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets (between St Anthony's church and school) as their students frequently cross that street during the school day. The following drawings represent a few possible options presented by St. Anthony's:
Option 1, converting the street into a pedestrian mall;
Option 2, making 9th Ave one-way with diagonal parking;
Option 3, two-way traffic with raised crosswalks and landscaped islands.
At this point these are simply proposals. There are pros and cons to each option (as well as the status quo). Any change will require City approval and perhaps County permission too, so nothing is scheduled to occur right away. The Traffic Committee would like to hear any comments or ideas from residents of Victoria Park. Please
email us
with your suggestions or concerns.
Kittelson & Associates, Inc. (KAI) was
retained by the City of Fort Lauderdale to evaluate the existing of NE 15th
Avenue with US‐1/Sunrise Boulevard and the Publix / Walgreens / Liquor store
access driveway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The purpose of this memorandum is
to document the results crashes, and operational analyses. To see the entire
report, click the link below:
Traffic Review and Analysis
DID YOU KNOW? Sidewalk repair is the adjacent property owner's responsibility
If the City should determine that the sidewalk in front of your property is in an unsafe condition and therefore in need of repair or replacement, they may send you notification that you must take care of the problem. The repair or replacement must be performed to the standards established by the City engineer (a permit is required) and at the property owner's expense.
As stated in the City Code of Ordinances - Section 25- 56 (a): It shall be the duty of each owner of abutting property to construct or reconstruct, maintain and keep in good repair uniform and substantial sidewalks in front of or abutting upon each parcel of his property within the City when so directed by resolution of the City Commission. Section 25-56 (b) states: It shall be unlawful for the owner or occupant of any lot or part thereof to permit any sidewalk in front of such lot or part thereof to remain in such condition as to prevent the convenient and safe use thereof by the public.
Entryway Accident 15th Ave and 9th Street
Our entranceway monument and plantings at the southeast corner of 15th Avenue & 9th Street were the victim of a drunken driver at 4 a.m. Thursday, September 21st. The VPCA monument, plantings including a mature palm tree, decorative metal guard poles, and the fire hydrant were damaged or destroyed by a 1998 Buick sedan out of Charlestown, MA. The inebriated driver abandoned the car and was captured shortly afterwards while trying to break into an apartment two blocks south of the accident scene. There were no other vehicles involved and the driver, alone, was not injured although his car was totaled.
The City's utilities department, Fire/Rescue acting chief, public services department (our own Hal Barnes), City Assistant Manager (Dave Hebert), and police department (Auto Theft Sergeant Larry Abrams) were individually contacted to effect a prompt cleanup. Because of the close proximity of homes, apartments and condominiums, the temporary loss of the fire hydrant generated a reply from all concerned that there are sufficient fire hydrants nearby to cover the area until repairs are made to the demolished hydrant.
Unfortunately the owner of the Buick carried no proof of insurance. He was arrested for driving on a suspended license, leaving the scene of an accident, no insurance, and failure to use due care. We may be able to pursue the driver for reimbursement of our costs to make repairs to the entranceway.
There must be something attractive to some people about our entranceways: we just concluded subrogation proceedings for the June 26, 2005 accident to the southwest corner monument at the same intersection.
Ted Fling, Chair
Traffic Committee
Status Update on Traffic Signs in VP
Ever since last year's hurricanes decimated our traffic control and street identification signs, I have been working with the Traffic Operations engineer at Broward County who has the responsibility for repairs.
In mid-July of this year it did not appear that much was being done by the County to alleviate the situation. Despite communications (verbal, e-mail, personally, and memo format) to our County commissioner (John Rodstrom), City commissioner (Charlotte Rodstrom) and City manager (George Grestas), we still have 45 locations with missing signs, bent poles, etc. in Victoria Park.
The latest report from the County (August 16, 2006) reads:
"The contractor and our in-house crews are still finishing up work from previously issued work orders. Our staff has reviewed the area in consideration of your previously transmitted list, and the repair work will be completed as expeditiously as possible. Please bear with us a little longer."
Please feel free to communicate with the
Traffic Committee if you have any questions about this subject.
Parking Update on NE 7th Avenue
Those who attended the July General Membership meeting will recall a presentation by Diane Alarcon about City plans to install parking meters along NE 7th Avenue (between 2nd and 4th Streets). The membership asked the City to delay any installation of parking meters until the Traffic Committee could meet with residents of nearby Victoria Mews. The committee met with residents in early July and proposed that the City continue the "No Parking" designation along the east side of 7th Avenue, and permit unmetered parking along the west side. The City agreed to this as an "experiment" until the General Membership can meet to discuss the situation again. The new signs and striping are currently in place. Here's the email conversation. (For more information on VPCA and the City 's future Design Guidelines for Northeast 7th Avenue)
-----Original Message-----
Cc: thornie@jarrett.com; Charlotte Rodstrom; Stephen Scott; John Hoelzle; Brian McKelligett
Subject: RE: NE 7th Avenue Parking Matters
After visiting with John this afternoon, we both agreed that we should move forward with your request of marking the spaces on the west side of 7th Avenue and placing proper signage on the east.
I look forward to meeting with you in approximately six week to discuss the findings. It will take us about two weeks to get everything set up.
Please let me know if you should have any additional questions.
-----Original Message-----
John/Diana: As you know from our Association meeting on July 5, 2006, I was to contact the neighbors in in the vicinity, particularly the residents in the Mews condo complex.
That has been done and yesterday we reviewed Diana's presentation and the consensus is only, at this time and until the Association 09/06/06 meeting, to request the City to install NO PARKING AT ANY TIME and TOW AWAY ZONE signs on the east side of 7th Avenue between 2nd and 4th Streets.
As an experiment, we can use this six week timeframe to observe reactions and usage of the west side of the roadway. It would be helpful to have white striping outlining parking areas on that west side also.
There remains the constant dislike of any parking meters in this area since it is primarily residential.
For what it's worth, the cutout parking spaces on the north side of 3rd Street east of 7th Avenue are not usable because of standing water and no drains. Yesterday and today the cutouts are full with standing water four to five inches deep.
We will appreciate any comments you have on this matter. Thank you.
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Broward Blvd @ NE 11th Ave
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Broward Blvd @ NE 16th Ave
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Victoria Park Rd @ NE 3rd St
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NE 15th Ave @ Broward Blvd
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N Federal Highway @ NE 2nd St
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NE 6th St @ Federal Highway
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N Federal Highway @ NE 8th St
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Sunrise Blvd @ NE 9th Ave
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source: Broward County
Transportation Planning, 2007
ensure student safety,
