An editorial by Chris Wilson

 Jonathan Paul, Alachua County’s traffic concurrency manager, knows all too well the pains of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. For years, Paul lived in and worked for Hillsborough County, where he saw roadways throughout the Tampa Bay area expand and still remain congested. 

While living in Tampa, Paul spent many hours idling in the same traffic as this newspaper editor, who was working for a community newspaper in northeast Tampa. We drove Bruce B. Downs Blvd., a major north-south arterial through a newly developed area known as New Tampa. The Hillsborough County planners had decided, as the area continued to grow, to widen that arterial road — first from four lanes to six and, in some areas, to eight lanes. Traffic never improved, especially during peak hours.

It was enough to make Paul and his family pick up and move back to Gainesville, where he had attended the University of Florida. Once back in the Gainesville area, Paul says he again became frustrated with the traffic from his Jonesville home off C.R. 241 to downtown Gainesville. It was enough to make him again move his family to a location closer to his job.

For the past several months, Paul has been on a mission. The state requires the county to have a long term concurrency management system to address roadway capacities. Alachua County’s growth management staff currently is working on the plan, which will address several over- or near-capacity roadways in west Gainesville and Jonesville. The goal is?to plan for current and future increases in traffic, mostly caused by growth and development, by developing a better connected system of roads and a bus rapid transit route.

To that end, Paul’s experience in Hillsborough County has helped lead him away from thoughts of widening major arterials, such as Newberry Rd.and Archer Rd.

He says he favors more the idea of better connecting some existing roads that could serve as alternatives to the major arterials. For example, to improve traffic on Newberry Rd., one possibility, which eventually will happen, calls for extending SW 8th Ave. from Parker Rd. to C.R. 241. Another is to extend NW 23rd Ave., which currently dead ends west of NW 98th St., to C.R. 241.

Paul and Jeff Hays, another county staff member, have been hosting informational meetings for civic groups and concerned citizens in our area over the past two months. Three recent public meetings were held in our area. The first and third, which were held in the Town of Tioga meeting hall and at Kanapaha Middle School, respectively, were attended by about 30 people and Paul says another meeting that was held on NW 34th St. was attended by about 15 people.

Paul says the feedback he has heard has overwhelmingly been positive. Among the staff’s recommendations for the Tower Rd. corridor was to either widen the road to four lanes from SW 8th Ave. to Archer Rd. or two keep that portion at two lanes and add nine roundabouts. Paul says he is surprised that the “vast majority” of citizens who have submitted comments favor widening the road.

Another major component of the plan is developing a bus rapid transit system, which will consist of a series of dedicated lanes for bus traffic that connects major destinations.?Paul says the plan got a big spark with the approval of Newberry Village (see story on page 2). “We’ve definitely seen an increase in support for rapid transit,” says Paul. “We’ll definitely be exploring that a lot more. Development will play into those recommendations, but what the public views as favorable also will be important.”

Paul agrees that long term concurrency management is an issue that will effect quality of life in the west Gainesville and Jonesville area for years to come.

To that end, Paul and his staff currently have a questionnaire survey on the county’s growth management website www.growth-management.alachuacounty.us that can be submitted (we also have a link to that survey HERE). Call the growth management department at 374-5249.

Paul says he expects to make a presentation on the staff’s findings to the Board of County Commissioners sometime in May.

We also have additional details about the long term concurrency management system here.