Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/147897
Sarasota News Leader August 2, 2013 Page 83 Siesta Seen as well as county staff — van Roekens participated in a couple of lighting demonstrations last summer in an effort to determine what equipment would work best to make pedestrians more visible to drivers on Ocean Boulevard. All 14 bollards should be in by late August, according to the county's timetable. THE BLINKING LIGHTS Yet another one of van Roekens' projects is closer to seeing fruition, too, I learned this week. Ryan Montague, the Sarasota County staff member in the Traffic/Mobility Office who also handled the bollards project, said he is hopeful the County Commission will approve the installation of four new pedestrian crosswalk lights and signs at the Beach Way and Avenida Del Mare intersections on Beach Road. Tom Maroney, general manager of business operations in the Public Works Department, explained in a July 3 email to Commissioner Nora Patterson that "the rectangular rapid flashing beacon pedestrian sign (RRFB)," like those the Florida Department of Transportation installed last year at pedestrian crosswalks on Midnight Pass Road, has become very popular. Alternating, or "wig-wag," flashing lights are mounted below each sign. Those are the types of signs and lights Siesta Isles residents have sought at the Beach Way and Avenida Del Mare crosswalks, to replace constantly blinking lights that drivers have been ignoring for a long time, endangering pedestrians. The County Commission will be asked late this summer to approve the installation of new crosswalk lights to replace constantly blinking ones at the Beach Way and Avenida Del Mare intersections on Beach Road. File photo