The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will hold a community meeting on Thursday in the city of Waldo about a proposed project that would impact travel along State Road 24.
An open house will start at 4:30 p.m. and take place at Waldo City Square, 14450 NE 148th Ave. The presentation and public comment period start at 6 p.m.
The proposed project would cut SR 24 (Waldo Road), starting west of NE 141st Drive to US 301, from two eastbound lanes to one, adding pedestrian crossings, a parking lane and bicycle lane. The changes would impact less than two miles of road and cost $23.4 million, according to FDOT documents.
“The City of Waldo expressed interest in providing a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly facility to encourage economic development in the area,” the project overview says. “This project proposes to repurpose SR 24 (Waldo Road) to serve all users: people who walk, bicycle or drive.”
A virtual meeting will also happen on Tuesday with an open house time at 5:30 p.m. and a presentation and public comment period starting at 6 p.m. Find more details for the online meeting at the FDOT website.
For more information on the project, visit the FDOT website.
$23 million for less than 2 miles of road for pedestrians and bicyclists in Waldo? How many pedestrians and bicyclists are in Waldo? And when they get done walking and bicycling on that small stretch, where do they go? Do they then hop in their car and drive somewhere? This is an insane amount of money for that project. If it connected to somewhere, then maybe yes, but this is nuts.
This will affect the people that live there and the daily routine of going to work. It is already hard enough to cross traffic to get home, but now you want to make it one lane through Waldo. This is not safe or a good Idea with the amount of Traffic that comes through Waldo 24/7. This will be a mess like Starke has.
Bike lanes?
$23 million in a town of 800 people?
What the Florida is wrong with our leaders
This project makes no sense to me. I live at the old Dempsey house between north and south bound Hwy 24 up against the 301 overpass. We are the next block north of the Waldo feed and seed building.
I see traffic backed up south, past our house, on the north bound hwy24 lane, several times a day. This is caused by the stop sign where 24 north bound intersects hwy 301 at the BP Gas Station. THIS INTERSECTION NEEDS RESTRUCTURING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Both north bound lanes of Hwy 24 need merging lanes on to 301 at the BP Station. Traffic can then flow onto 301 without stopping. Therefore the traffic bottleneck at this intersection with just a stop sign, can be eliminated. The few pedestrians and cyclists are using the side walks on both sides of 24 north bound and a single side walk on the south bound lane. So expensive bike lanes are not needed. I feel it is a terrible waste of taxpayer dollars which solves nothing. My wife and I are both cyclist and ride daily from our house to the Flea Market using the side walks.
Another thing that would help along 24NB is for CSX to clean up their property and pave the area under the overpass south past Waldo Park. At present it is a dust bowl at best. It is a tremendous EYESORE!
But, Hey, what do I know? I just live in the middle of this proposed project 24/7.