People love Florida for many reasons: the sunshine, the beaches, and the theme parks. But what many people may not notice about this buzzing, popular state is its commitment to transportation and vehicle and pedestrian safety. Much of this is attributed to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and its efforts to create safer roadways by way of context-sensitive designs and making plans to accommodate the future of transportation. Here's a snapshot of what we're seeing across Florida from the perspective of a transportation engineering consultant.
Context-Sensitive Designs
A context-sensitive design is one that takes into account the whole environment, not just the roadway, to "complete the street" and address all concerns. This approach considers the surrounding environment, the users, and both local and regional travel demands. In urban areas this could mean designers consider the need for on-street parking, adding bike lanes, increasing sidewalk space, and making more room for amenities such as benches and bus stops.
Context-sensitive designs take into account the whole environment and are largely influenced by the users and safety.
Multimodal Approach
As transportation infrastructure continues to change and improve from year-to-year, we're seeing a lot of designs include space for the addition of multimodal facilities. This occurs primarily on the limited access facilities, where the median is often reserved for a rail system, however, we're also seeing it in the more urban areas where existing roadways are being modified to accommodate bus rapid transit (BRT), light rail, and other non-conventional methods of transportation. Multimodal centers are also popping up to conveniently connect the various forms of transportation, like airports and theme parks.
Roundabouts
With an increased emphasis on safety, FDOT is now requiring new intersections to be screened for a roundabout configuration. Roundabouts are deemed safer because by nature they force drivers to slow down, unlike traditional intersections where drivers could theoretically continue through at a high speed.
By forcing drivers to slow down upon approaching them, roundabouts are traditionally safer and therefore becoming more popular for large intersections.
Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous, or connected, vehicles are appearing on Florida roadways with pilot projects planned, or underway, in Tampa, Jacksonville, Gainesville, and other cities across the state. In addition, FDOT is currently constructing SunTrax, a 475-acre study and testing facility for autonomous vehicles adjacent to the Florida Polytechnic University in Polk County. You can find out more about the university's Advanced Mobility Institute here.
These are just a few of the major trends we are seeing in Florida, and there are many more still in their infancy or likely to emerge in the next five to 10 years, including P3 projects (private-public partnership), renewal projects, and alternative interchange configurations such as the diverging diamond. Another innovative solution for reducing vehicle collisions and improving safety is a continuous flow intersection. In this video, Kevin Knudsen and Raymond Lee explain how this unique traffic pattern works, and why it could be considered a safer option than a traditional four-way intersection.