US 19 pedestrian safety midblock crossings

44:27And we will now go to the regular agenda. And we are on one oh four. Presentation only.

44:42Good morning, Commissioner Peter Shu, uh Florida DOT District Safety Administrator with my partner Eric Henry. We're gonna present to you about the Pasco US 19 challenge. and the opportunity. And uh I just uh Florida duties will be here to answer your question. Also we ask for your support too for our coming safety action. Eric.

45:10Thank

45:10you. Good morning commissioners. Thank you for your time today. My name is Eric Henry. I work at the District 7 Safety Office. Peter has asked me to present the content of the presentation today on his behalf. Afterwards he'll make himself available to answer any questions you all might have. So we are talking today about US nineteen here in Pasco County and the traffic safety issues that we face on that corridor as well as some of the opportunities for improvements as well.

45:37So we so our screens are not working, so we won't be able to see the presentation unless you turn the TVs this way. And I think the commissioners want to see the presentation.

45:49Thank you.

45:51There we go. In 2019, FDOT created the Pasco County Wide Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Action Plan. The purpose of this plan was to identify crash trends in Pasco County and compare them with nationwide averages. Doing so we found that the fatality rate for pedestrians in Pasco was a hundred and fifty percent above the national average. That's two hundred and twenty percent above the national average for bicyclists. So clearly there was an issue there. We needed to look a little bit deeper, figure

46:22out exactly what was going on. Looking at crash data, we saw US 19 as a clear area of concern. Looking at only bicycle and pedestrian crashes, we see that more than 25% occur on US 19 in Pasco County. That is more than double any other corridor. We know from census data that high crash corridors like US-19 are more likely to have a high concentration of households with persons with disabilities as well as households in poverty. Furthermore, we know that

46:52those households are much more likely to depend on walking, biking, and public transit to make most of their day-to-day travel. So we likely have a higher than average number of people walking and biking that combined with any safety issues we may see could be what's contributing to that high fatality rate that we saw previously. We've become aware of the issue for a while now, but recently the media has become aware as well. Can excuse

47:18me, I just got texted by someone that they can't hear you speak. Could you maybe try lifting that mic up, but they're having trouble online. Hopefully that's better. Let's try let's try that. It went back down, lift it up just a little bit. Okay.

47:32Maybe.

47:33Thank you.

47:34I'll stay in a little closer as well. Um so a recent Vox article, the headline, How a Stretch of US 19 in Florida Became the Deadliest Road for Pedestrians. This article highlighted a couple of useful pieces of information to uh categorize just how big of a problem we're facing on US-19. Uh it re it cataloged uh pedestrian crash hotspots nationwide and found that seven out of the sixty total were on US nineteen in Pasco County. Wow. Uh not only did they find that it

48:04was the deadliest road in Pasco County for pedestrians, but the deadliest in Florida overall. Looking at our own crash data. We saw that 21% of all fatalities in Pasco nine were occurring on US 19. to put that in terms of all our uh vulnerable road users, our pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, we found that thirty percent of all fatalities to these vulnerable road users were occurring on this one roadway, US 19 in Pasco County.

48:34When when did your date when did the date of this occur? Because we had two deaths a couple weeks ago.

48:39Yes, uh one's a Saturday, one's uh September uh eleven. Yeah.

48:44Yeah, I believe the data range for this was twenty fifteen to twenty twenty one, I believe. Um but to put that in terms of incapacitating injuries, that's sixteen percent of all incapacitating injuries or 17% of vulnerable road user incapacitating injuries on one roadway. So we've clearly identified an issue that needs steps to address it. So what have we been doing to address it? We one way is through leading pedestrian intervals or LPIs. If you're not familiar, it is essentially

49:14allowing an extra three to ten seconds in the pedestrian walk phase before vehicles are given the green signal. The idea for this is to get pedestrians out into the middle of the crosswalk where they will be visible to right turning vehicles once they receive the green signal, hopefully thereby preventing a crash. District 7 has been a champion in the L in the implementation of LPIs. We have around two-thirds of all the LPIs in the entire state of Florida. 30 locations on US 19 in Pasco County. We are currently

49:44in the data collection phase of before and after evaluation of this treatment in order to determine exactly how well it's performing and reducing pedestrian bicycle crashes and intersections. We are also continuing our district wide lighting retrofit to upgrade outdated lighting equipment to LED lighting. We have funded $2.6 million worth of improvements, including along US 19. uh covering 14.9 miles of roadway from the Penellas County Line to New York Avenue at

50:1524 signalized intersections. Additionally, we have an ongoing districtwide lighting level measurement to go ahead and obtain lighting level measurements on all state roads, to take a proactive approach to determining what the lighting conditions are on our roads, and to take a proactive approach to before and after evaluation as well. At Signalized Intersections, we have funded or implemented $2.7 million to provide missing crosswalks at 22 signalized intersections

50:45in US 19. With $400,000 planned for three remaining sites. You can see on the right here a before a wide stretch of roadway that was missing the crosswalk and afterwards where we've gone ahead and added the high emphasis crosswalk in there. Additionally, we have two million dollars spent for two new signals and sidewalk gap improvements to provide better connectivity for pedestrians that utilize this area. Uh another issue that the Vox article that I mentioned highlights was crossing

51:15distance. To quote the article, the crosswalks are so few and far between that a simple act, crossing the street to get to a business a few hundred feet away might mean walking over half a mile to reach the nearest crosswalk. That's certainly something that we don't want to see. So we have identified seven locations and proposed new mid-block crosswalks or mid-block pedestrian signals at those locations. These locations were determined based on a study of bicycle and pedestrian crash history, as well as their proximity to

51:45significant pedestrian generators, attractors, transit stops, distance to the nearest signal or crossing, as well as pedestrian and bicycle crossing counts. You can see on the right there the seven locations that we have highlighted. and proposed crossings at. Among those, we have identified one location as a preliminary priority to put a crosswalk in, that is at Buena Vista Lane, Bartelt Road. We identified this based on the crash history at this location. We have seen 10 bicycle pedestrian

52:16crashes between 2015 to 2021, nine of which resulted in a serious injury, and one of which resulted in a fatality. Unfortunately, so far this year we have already seen one additional fatality at this location as well. So pending the results of a final benefit cost analysis. of all seven proposed locations. The plan is to go ahead and implement this mid-block pedestrian signal in this case through Design Build Push Button 5 in 2023. Since this is a mid-block pedestrian signal, we have a short little thing

52:46here displaying how that would work. It's like a typical traffic signal. Vehicles will stop at the red light. and pedestrians will receive the okay to walk. At the end of the pedestrian walk phase, the pedestrian receives a flashing red don't walk. Followed by a flashing red for the vehicle, and finally a green light with a solid red don't walk for the pedestrian. In addition to these engineering countermeasures, we have also been doing a lot of outreach on this corridor. Our geofencing campaign is able to target the mobile devices of motorists who are

53:16actively using the road and reach them with a safety message and provide them with an opportunity to take a survey to provide feedback. We have also been doing on-the-street outreach both night and day, providing bicycle lights and reflective items to vulnerable road users who are presently and actively using the roadway. And doing this we've been able to get a lot of very valuable feedback to understand their purpose for traveling on US 19 that day and to get uh their opinion on what they think should be done to improve the corridor. We

53:46have also visited over 200 businesses in person to conduct interviews with the owners and get their feedback. And to provide them with countercards with a QR code that links to that survey I mentioned in order to get their customers' feedback as well. We have also mailed this postcard to over 6,000 households in order to continue to engage the community that these changes would affect, just get their feedback on what they would like to see. We have also installed Signal Cabinet Art at twenty two locations, including along US nineteen. These signal cabinet

54:16wraps display a diverse range of road users, all safely using crossing facilities. You can see a few of the locations where we put them on US 19 here. A total of four places. Buy places, excuse me. And with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Peter Shu, our District 7 Safety Administrator, to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.

54:38Thank you, Commissioner, to allow us to present the challenge opportunity with you. You saw the challenge from this uh Pascoal years nineteen, your Pasco US nineteen, my Pasco Use nineteen. Really when we saw the Vox News uh just published two months ago, July, we said, wow, we Florida D UT have teen up with your great staff here. I appreciate the your public work, your MPO have been working with us for a lot of public

55:08outreach is effort. And later we still have the issue. So one of the things back to the previous slide, the The signal, MIPRA PRETAL SIGNAL, we are going to install We need uh support from or County Commissioner because uh one the new restriction from uh Sacred Gwen. He say he wanted endorsement from elected officials. Instead of

55:38the The stab. because we have a good lesson learned earlier this year. We got the endorsement for all the Walker B. They said they love it, but when they go to electoral officials they say no, they don't want it. and later for that particular project Safety project, we lost quarter million dollars for doing nothing. We said, Well, we don't want that thing happen again. That's a limited URTAX money from Uncle Sam from US DOT. So we want to use the

56:08money in the wise way to really make Pasco uh US nineteen and Pasco safer. Any question?

56:16So I I'm very familiar with mid bo mid block crossings and I think they work really well and I'm a hundred percent in in favor of of your efforts there. And that that's my district that keeps having all these fatalities. Um Sadly, I think s some of them are um because we have some drug houses in that area and people are impaired. Um Right and right in that area by Buena Vista Lane, uh maybe a block north is one

56:47of our major ones. And sadly it's I w I was there the other day and I watched the drug deal go down when we were doing the cleanup so Um But uh Commissioner Oakley would like to speak. Thank you.

56:58Um I've been here six years and for the entire six years I've been here, Secretary Gwynne and his staff, you You folks also uh I mean part of that staff. You've done everything in the world to do safety first. And I've noticed that and recognized that. I reached out to him on There in the Lacouche area where we had ninety eight and had a bad accident was a teenager got killed at that And that wasn't a first crash, there's been several there. And he immediately with within less than probably eight months. He

57:28had a new roundabout right there at 98 and Trevor Road.

57:32Founded by side from from USDOT Money, Federal Safety Fund.

57:37Yep.

57:37Thank you.

57:38And I I realize that and I appreciate it. You also took out a bright bike lane right there north of Dade City at Lock Street in 301. because of safety reasons. So everything I've seen that DOT is basic they're safety first. And if you go by that, these corrections on nineteen to make our citizens safer. on these roads. So I certainly appreciate it. Appreciate Secretary Gwynn with all the work he and his staff and team actually do in our district.

58:08So we've always as a commission I think since I've been here work very well with DOT. And in his district. So It's really been good for us. They've had at least Probably four hundred to six hundred million dollars ongoing construction on roads in Pasco County ever since I've been elected. So it's been more

58:30thank you. Listen, I just want to say thank you guys for all your work and you we have a great working relationship obviously with um DOT, F DOT, F DOT. Um and so thank you both for everything and you know we're very thankful again for Secretary Gwynn. I mean I I don't want to knock the rest of the Secretary's crew out this day, but I'm I think he's kind of the best of the best.

58:50very works very, very closely with us and he's obviously always um you know, i he's always well received t with this c in this county and this board. So again we appreciate you guys and and your continued efforts. So thank you.

59:02Thank you. Commissioner Mariano. Thank you, Madam Chairman M S since Secretary Gwyn has come in play We've had a great relationship working whatever the issue is, no what no matter what uh part of the county, what what the transportation is. So thank you guys for all you do. Let me let me ask a question. The of the Accidents are there. Sometimes you get a car accident, there's gonna be a drug test. Are you do you guys drug test to find out if someone's impaired? Yeah. What's what's the percentage of those that get hit? That are Drug induced in

59:32one way or another.

59:33That's something that we are working with uh Florida Highway Patrol closely. Some of the one in the recent fatal crashes they're not willing to release the data because state a statute requirement. But in the past we did look at it's very, very high percent percentage related to impale, walker or driver?

59:54I think it's a very important thing.

59:58I I wish you guys would dig into it, push hard as you have to, if you need help from us or us state legislators, but that information is critical. Commissioner Starkey as you know if the they're doing drugs they're walking outside and one was a bite battle with someone who was on drugs that You know, helped an accident happen. So it that is something that's important. But it's it's important to know that The improvements you're making for these mid crosswalks, et cetera, is great, but if you s have someone that's got a bigger issue then if we knew that that would be helpful for us as far as what is the best way to prevent these. Uh and up and down nineteen with all the open cars

1:00:28there is a ho a lot of homeless going up and down. That are going in there, finding a way to make money, finding a way to make drugs to

1:00:35So that may be your biggest thing, not all these engineering improvements you're doing. So if you could dig into that. Um As far as safety goes, I know the channel I think has worked very well out there that you guys had put in several years ago. We don't see as many actions I don't I believe out there as we did. Uh and your cooperation, I'll tell you. At Beacon Woods Drive in Leisure Lane was phenomenal. Work in that partnership with you was was tremendous. Um One thing I noticed in a recent uh trip with NACA was overpasses that

1:01:05they have out in the Denver area. Uh very, very active community people are out in the streets all the time. Their overpasses are probably about one tenth the structure that we use. No, I don't know if we're building major, major structures that Maybe we should really re look at that. You did you say you had forty million dollars that didn't get spent because you didn't have projects?

1:01:25Uh uh На на он на федераль сефті сай. Uh in the PowerPoint or in the front, we say we already in the past four years, we already spent eight million dollar Federal Safety Fund uh to Pasco US nineteen. From District Seven, we receive fifteen million dollars a year. So really we are okay. 15% of the Uncle Sam federal safety fund on Pasco Use 19 every year in the past four years. I just send a margin order to my team. For example,

1:01:55this signal, the lighting, and other missing crosswords. We're gonna start a design process in the end of this year. That's another two million dollars. So I from my side, I commit 15. Fifteen percent of the Federal Safety Fund allocate to Tampa Bay just for Pasco Pasco US nineteen only.

1:02:19So what what I'd like to look at and I I'd be happy to talk with you later a little bit later on is there's these firms that are out there that can build them a lot smaller than these major structures. So instead of being four, five or ten million dollars, we could get 'em down a lot less. Maybe you're not gonna qu accommodate some other things like golf carts or whatever, which you probably wouldn't allow anyway, but at least if people on bikes or can get get over and across these things and and set up several of them up and down like a lot of other areas do. Um in Miami, every street block pretty

1:02:50much had a crossway.

1:02:51Yep.

1:02:51Going from building to building connecting. Yes. So I I think on nineteen we we should start looking at that and I don't think you're gonna get it done by using these massive structures that you've built in the past. I think we've got to go smaller. More direct uh still gotta be able to do that. But the feedback

1:03:06we will look into this pedestrian orbit pass option.

1:03:09Okay.

1:03:09Thank you.

1:03:10Thank you.

1:03:11Madam Chairman Mariano While pulling the data for the top ten Intersections for crashes and fatalities for for the pedestrians. Six out of ten. intersections in Pasco County are on US Highway 19. So I would like to say thank you for addressing that because it's really important that we reduce those numbers. In addition, I also have the numbers for the top ten Motorized intersection crashes and Four

1:03:41of them overlap of course with the pedestrian walkers and two of them are also on nineteen. So I would like to continue to follow that data just for the pedestrians but also for the motorized intersection crashes, 'cause two do overlap with those intersections.

1:03:58We we are looking to uh to use the money wisely to do the best thing we can do. But I really appreciate the support for all the commissioner. Thank you.

1:04:08Yes, thank you. I think com we have an eleven o'clock time cert, so I'm gonna try and keep us moving. Commissioner Mariano wants to make a quick uh statement, but um do you need a motion from us to support mid block crossings? Yes. Okay.

1:04:21Just one one last thing as far as we've been working on the underpass project of Cody River. Uh I think that would be a great thing as far as getting people Crossing back and forth. I really wish you guys would focus with us on that to get that done because it's two cities involved and the county. Uh when you talk about trying to save lives, you got a lot of golf cards that do cross. That may m not be part of your mental mix, but Transportation back and forth under that roadway will probably make it a lot safer as well.

1:04:47Agreed. Good

1:04:48point.

1:04:48All right, I'll entertain a motion to support mid-block processing. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed. Thank you so much. Will you be coming to the MPO?

1:04:57Uh the meeting I can if if if you request. Easy.

1:05:04Well I I kinda think that they should report, because the city of New Port Richey and Port Ritchie are there at Zephyrhills.

1:05:11Yeah, uh yeah, we avoid the uh M PO meeting on purposely.

1:05:16Oh

1:05:17Because the the bad experience we learned is the green key at US nineteen. We already started construction and city council say nope, they don't want it.

1:05:29And later later. Thank you.

1:05:33Wait, who owns Green Key? Who whose road is Green Key Road?

1:05:37New Port Richey.

1:05:38I think it's ours.

1:05:43it will be maintained by Pasco County by authorities within Newport Ricci. So they send a letter to Secretary Guerrilla and say they don't want it. And we already ordered all the Masson and Sacred Grands say we honor your request one time only. But in the future we will not get We will not take the endorsement from public work director, whoever we want to get endorsement.

1:06:11Yeah, this is uh the the thing w I tried to avoid New Port Richey will fight vaccine. Yeah. Sorry.

1:06:18Well I'm gonna dig into that. And Commissioner Moore, you're saying that they're scheduled.

1:06:22You're already scheduled to come to the workshop in October. Yes. Yes. Okay. Which is our MPO board will be there.

1:06:28Yeah. All right. Well in the meantime, we'll dig into that as well. Thank you so much.

1:06:32Thank you so much.