Trending
To the editor:
Traffic has always been an issue in Cape Coral since I arrived almost a decade ago. The design of roads in the Cape is an afterthought with canals being the primary design focus.
We have two arterial roads, Pine Island and Veterans. The remaining roads should be considered residential road collectors but have been speed zoned as major arterials. The speeds posted on these roads like Cape Coral Parkway, Chiquita, Skyline, Santa Barbara are set like they are arterials with speeds of 45 miles per hour, but are fed not only by smaller roads but driveways that residents need to access. Similar roads like Mohawk, Beach and Savona have a 40 mph speed limit. They are designed exactly the same as Chiquita, Skyline, etc. but handle a lower volume of traffic. Keeping in mind that a 45 mph speed limit is really 55 mph when enforcement starts, is highway speed. Residents attempting to get into their driveways with 45 /55 mph traffic at their backs. I have observed at night residents backing into their driveways in the dark. While this maneuver occurs the car is perpendicular to traffic and no lights on the car to be seen by oncoming 45-plus mph traffic. Daylight design doesn't consider these maneuvers.
Cape Coral Parkway speeds go up and down from 40 to 45 and back again to 40 finally resolving at 35 mph in the downtown where there are more "valuable" pedestrians. What is the point of accelerating for a few blocks an extra 5 mph? All it provides is an opportunity for those who wish to bolt past a few cars and be the first ones at the light. Traffic calming is not achieved with the up and down speed limits. Engineering is caught between moving traffic as quickly as possible balanced against residents performing pit maneuvers to get into their driveways.
What scares me the most is the lack of pedestrian separation/sidewalks and these high-speed roadways. I observe students, sitting on the ground with headphones on looking at electronic devices, absolutely unaware of the high-speed maneuvering of vehicles jockeying back and forth on these two-lane roads only feet away. These students might as well be sitting on the edge of a highway. Creating a parking lane, where applicable, by reducing the width of the boulevard would provide a bit more protection while accommodating the commercial vehicles that need access to these residences.
45 mph speed limits need to be reduced to 35 mph on all of these roads. A speed limit reduction more compatible with a residential neighborhood. 35 mph would only add 1 minute 10 seconds of travel time between Cape Coral Parkway and Veterans; 40 mph adds 30 seconds. A speed reduction would at least increase the pedestrian response time if an errant driver drifts off the roadway. Speed and travel time cannot be the overriding factor in our traffic design; it must be pedestrian and resident safety first.
J. Caplin
Cape Coral