Ocala roads initiative
A two-prong study is underway to assess safety, speed management and traffic calming in the city.
Christy Loyfe, Traffic and Safety Team Leader with traffic consultant Ardurra Group, Inc., goes over a graphic that explains locations identified to date as areas of concern for vehicle speed in Ocala with Peter Coles, an Ocala resident with complaints about local traffic like red light runners. The two were at an Ocala Community Road Safety planning meeting on Nov. 5 at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in downtown Ocala. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]
Citizen input like a pedestrian near miss and a need for sidewalks on a neighborhood roadway were heard at a second city of Ocala Community Road Safety planning meeting on Nov. 5.
The theme of the meeting, which took place at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition building in downtown Ocala, was “Help Shape Ocala’s Safer Streets Future.”
The public meeting was held to hear feedback and discuss two city studies in progress, titled “Local Road Safety Plan” and “Speed Management and Traffic Calming Plan.”
Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano looks over a model of an enhanced type of roundabout proposed for the Ocala area with members of the city of Ocala Engineering Department at an Ocala Community Road Safety planning meeting on Nov. 5. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]
Members of the city’s Engineering Department and representatives of the study consultant firm, Ardurra Group, headquartered in Miami, were on hand at the Nov. 5 session.
The study will use crash and other data from 2020 through 2024 with an “appendix” of citizen input from the two public meetings to make recommendations to present to the Ocala City Council for decisions in 2026.
A joint statement notes that the five-year history view is the “best practice” for the study.
“A five-year history including the most recent full five years of crash data is considered a best engineering practice to produce safety plans. However, the city of Ocala continues to monitor crash data available from Signal Four Analytics, especially fatal crashes, on an ongoing basis,” according to the statement.
The Nov. 5 meeting was posted Oct. 24 on the city’s website, three days before the tragic death of Forest High School senior Shannon Rushing,18, who was struck by a car while walking in the 2200 block of Old Blitchton Road at 6:18 a.m.
Shannon’s sister, Shanta Norton, has spearheaded an effort to enhance pedestrian roadway safety.
Norton entered a petition on change.org, a “platform for change,” calling for the “installation of adequate street lighting on all state and county roads that see pedestrian traffic” to be mandated by a proposed “Shannon’s Law.”
Forest High School teacher Kiersten Welden places a Post-it note on a city map indicating the location of her concerns for traffic conditions and pedestrian safety in the vicinity of Southeast 13th Street near Ward Highlands Elementary School. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]
The city and Ardurra released a joint statement following the meeting.
“Old Blitchton Road was not identified as a top High Injury Network (HIN) segment based on historical crash data from 2020-2024, since there were no fatal or incapacitating injury crashes on NW Old Blitchton Road within the five-year period,” according to the statement.
“There were also no injury crashes (incapacitating or otherwise) reported on Old Blitchton Road from 2020-2024. However, once the crash report is available for review by the city, the circumstances and any contributing causes of the crash will be reviewed for potential safety improvements. This crash will also be noted and described within the ‘Local Road Safety Plan’ being prepared by the city’s consultant,” the statement read.
The meeting included a model of a traffic roundabout or circle, which Florida Department of Transportation literature claims lead to a “76% reduction in injury crashes” and lower vehicle speed while increasing traffic flow. There are multiple traffic roundabouts currently installed on east Fort King Street. The model displayed at the meeting depicted a larger and enhanced type of roundabout.
Rob Balmes, director of the Ocala Marion County Transportation Planning Organization, stated in an email that the TPO is part of a city advisory group on the roadway study and is supporting the city in pursuing “federal and state funding opportunities.”
The joint city/Adurra statement indicated “public feedback received through November 19th will be documented (in an appendix to the study data). One thing to note, in addition to the stakeholders that were mentioned last night, the Stakeholder Advisory Group also includes representation by Bike/Walk Central Florida, a pedestrian and bicycle advocacy nonprofit, and by Marion County Public Schools, who have provided feedback for the planning studies through this engagement process.”
The city study took factors like schools nearby when looking at road conditions and recommendations could be made to roadway layout and more to enhance safety.
City engineer Sean Lanier said sidewalk installation requires consideration of drainage, the topography and right-of-way.
Maintenance of the city’s roads uses a large portion of a $12 million dollar transportation budget, according to officials.
Lanier said his department often depends upon citizen input about the need for road maintenance.
Several attendees expressed their concerns in 17 Post-it notes with remarks on a particular roadway on a large city map.
One note pointed out “horrible traffic” at Northeast 8th Road and Northeast 8th Avenue and delays at a traffic light, with a suggestion to widen the road from two to four lanes.
Some 56 citizens entered their remarks into a computer set out for public use by organizers
Peter Coles’ wife was nearly struck recently while walking across Silver Springs Boulevard at Northeast 11th Avenue by a driver who ran a red light. He said he would like to see the city do more for pedestrian safety in Ocala.
Kiersten Welden, a teacher at Forest High School, commented on conditions on Southeast 13th Street near Ward-Highlands Elementary, noting children’s safety on the road and a need for sidewalks, signage and lighting and “prioritizing of safety.”
Sandra Hensley is concerned about high-speed traffic and commercial trucks on neighborhood roads around York, which appeared to be in the unincorporated area of the county. An attendee suggested Hensley contact the county commissioner for her area. The roads, with some portions possibly unpaved, are used by residents from south of the area to access main arteries like State Road 40, Hensley indicated.
Hensley’s concern is that a traffic fatality may have to occur before she sees officials take action in the area.
“Somebody’s got to get killed? That’s not the answer I want to hear,” she said.
For information, go to ocalafl.gov and ocalamariontpo.org
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