Sarasota News Leader

09/21/12

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Sarasota News Leader September 21, 2012 Subsequent to that meeting, FDOT sent two surveys to the owners of condos in the 34 complexes along that stretch of Midnight Pass Road. The survey results showed that a majority of respondents wanted painted crosswalks, instead of raised crosswalks, with no pad- dle signs in the centers of those crosswalks to warn drivers to be alert to pedestrians. Instead, people planning to use the cross- walks will be able to activate the flash- ing-beacon signage on either side of each crosswalk. MAP INACCURACIES CITED One resident who attended the Sept. 17 open house at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church on Midnight Pass Road did complain to the project staff that the map showing the crosswalk locations was not entirely correct. Dr. Mike Sullivan said the condominium complex labeled "Excelsior" on the beach side of the road was actually Crystal Sands. He said it was inappropriate to have a crosswalk at that location, because the area "is very congested [there]." Residents of Crystal Sands had no reason to use a crosswalk, he pointed out, because they already were at the beach. Instead, Sullivan said, it would be better to place a crosswalk closer to Excelsior's buildings on the bay side of the island. Three other parts of the map were labeled incorrectly, Sullivan wrote in a letter he hand-delivered to the News Leader's office on Sept. 19. Page 48 He added in the letter that FDOT officials were informed "at a public meeting over six months ago about their inaccuracies" in the map, "but FDOT failed to inform the res- idents and owners of the mislabeled resi- dential complexes and where the crossover would actually be located." Clemmons told Sullivan during the open house that she would check with FDOT staff involved in the site locations, to de- termine why one crosswalk was to be situ- ated at Crystal Sands instead of closer to Excelsior. "If someone brings something [like this] forward," Clemmons told the News Lead- er, "we will look into it. … We'll find [the designers'] rationale for the placement" of that crosswalk. SATISFIED RESIDENTS Among the other, approximately 25 people who came to the open house, Maggia Mol- loy, who lives in the Summerhouse condo- minium complex, was worried about wheth- er the placement of the crosswalks would affect her ability to get out onto Midnight Pass Road. If a crosswalk was in front of Summerhouse, she said, drivers would be stopping to let people cross the road, mak- ing it that much more difficult to merge into traffic. However, Molloy mostly was concerned about the fact that the only way she can get into traffic some days is to use that center lane for merging purposes. After talking with FDOT representatives, she told the News Leader, "I'm going home happy."

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