Daytona Beach, FL - The drumbeat against a proposed roundabout at one of Daytona Beach's busiest intersections continues to grow louder.
Dozens of people attended last night's (January 4th) meeting at the Peninsula Club to hear officials from the Florida Department of Transportation explain their reasons for replacing the traffic lights at the corner of State Road A1A and East International Speedway Boulevard.
Claudia Rose - who organized the meeting - says a roundbout there just isn't going to fly for a lot of reasons, mainly because it's the site of Volusia County's busiest beach approach.
"With the roundabout, there will be confusion by people who don't know what they're supposed to be doing," Rose added.
Rose and other residents at the meeting - many of whom were notified by her on Nextdoor after she caught wind of FDOT's plan - are worried that the roundabout will cause backups on East I.S.B., leading to impatient drivers using side streets to get to the beach and cause more traffic problems for locals.
"I know that intersection very well," Rose noted, saying she's lived on beachside for 31 years. "[I live] only eight blocks away. [A roundabout] just will not work."
She prefers that FDOT leave the intersection as it is, with traffic lights in place to keep vehicles and pedestrians moving.
FDOT officials say they are willing to consider backing away from the roundabout at this point in the process, but the agency has argued in the past that roundabouts do an effective and safe job of moving traffic along, especially once the speed limit in that area is lowered considerably to accomodate the roundabout.
An Oviedo firm - Inwood Consulting Engineers - is in the process of designing the roundabout after receiving approval from city commissioners. Daytona Beach has spent over $5 million purchasing property in that area to make the roundabout a reality.
The roundabout is part of a long-range $24 million plan to remake East ISB from the foot of the ISB high-rise bridge to A1A by 2024, a stretch which is currently filled with many empty buildings.
Wider sidewalks, bicycle lanes and traffic lanes would be built as part of that project along with a wider median to separate the travel lanes, accompanied by new signs, traffic lights and landscaping. Much of the funding is expected to come from the state.
