City Picks Roundabout Plan for Tamiami Trail

Sarasota will proceed with a $9.51 million to overhaul Tamiami Trail from 10th to 14th streets with two roundabouts and an extended trail after the City Commission accepted the design of the project Monday.

The commission voted 5-0 Monday to approve Design 1B with a caveat that the city looks closely at how the center of the roundabouts will be designed and landscaping for the median areas to encourage pedestrians to cross at designated areas.

"We need to make this the best we can," Mayor Suzanne Atwell said. "This is an extraordinary gateway of the city."

The both north-south, as well as encouraging people to cross Tamiami Trail from the Bayfront to downtown. The segment is 2,600 feet long. 

Two-lane roundabouts would be placed at 10th and 14th streets for the north and south approaches, said William Howell, consultant project manager for the planning development and environment study with H.W. Lochner Inc. 

The centerpieces of the roundabouts became of some concern by local roundabout experts expressed. Commissioner Terry Turner shared that criticisms he heard from those folks of the new Ringling Boulevard roundabouts is that don't sufficiently limit a driver's view to force them to see traffic approaching from the left instead of seeing cars on the opposite side of the roundabout.

"We put 12-inch high vegetation in the Ringling roundabouts, and they don't block visuals," Turner said.

A video simulation of the roundabout appears to show that there would be sufficient landscaping to avoid drivers seeing through the roundabout, said City Engineer Alex Davis Shaw. 

"That is a concern. We did that at Five Points, and it does bring the intersection down in size and scale, and that would be something we want to pursue," she said.

This is what the Northern Segment entails from 11th Street to 14th Street:

• Four 11-foot wide lanes

• 4-foot bike lanes

• 10-foot median

• 6-foot sidewalk on east side

• 10-foot trail on west side

• 40 mph design speed

Here's the Southern Segment from 10th Street to north of 11 Street:

• Four 11-foot wide lanes

• 4-foot bike lanes

• 22-foot median

• 10-foot trail on west side

• 6-food sidewalk on east side

• 40 mph Design Speed

Additional adjustments would be needed along the path as the city has to acquire additional right of way to accommodate a trail connecting Centennial Park and Whitaker Gateway Park, including moving the sign for Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Howell said. 

An FDOT public hearing on the selected plan is tentatively scheduled for early 2013, Howell said, then the plan would be sent to the Federal Highway Administration for review and approval.

If all goes smoothly and funding in place, construction could start anywhere from July 2016 to June 2017.