At their last meeting, the Leon County Commission accepted the Concurrency Annual Report for 2018. One of the main purposes of the report is to evaluate the Level of Service (LOS) standards for roadways.
LOS definitions are provided below.
The report indicates that of the 444 roadway segments monitored, there were 21 roadway segments operating below the minimum required LOS. These 21 roadway segments are operating at 100% volume to capacity ratio or greater, and, are therefore exceeding the LOS adopted in the Tallahassee-Leon County Comprehensive Plan.
Eleven of the twenty-one segments that are operating below the adopted LOS are state roads. One of the state road segments, North Monroe Street from Sessions to Fred George Road, is capacity constrained. This segment cannot be widened further due to prohibitively costly right-of- way.
The remaining ten segments are Leon County roads.
Eight of the ten Leon County road segments are operating below the LOS standard are based on projected demand, not trips currently on the road.
The report provided assessments of three of the capacity challenged segments.
Buck Lake Road from Mahan Drive to Vermillion Boulevard is over-capacity in both directions based on reserved trips from nearby residential and commercial development. Widening this segment of Buck Lake Road is prohibitively expensive.
Miccosukee Road westbound from Dempsey Mayo Road to Fleischmann Road is a constrained Canopy Road, with reserved trips from nearby residential and commercial development. The Northeast Gateway project will relieve congestion on Miccosukee Road by constructing Welaunee Boulevard South (Fleischmann Road to Interstate 10) and Welaunee Boulevard North (I-10 to Shamrock Way).
Old Bainbridge Road northbound from Fred George to Capital Circle is exceeding the LOS standard based on the traffic count. There are planned safety improvement for lane striping, more visible signage, and increased shoulder width (without impacting the tree canopy) in the next Florida Department of Transportation Fiscal Year. Old Bainbridge Road is a constrained Canopy Road. Canopy roads cannot be widened due to negative environmental impacts.
Roadway Segments Exceeding the LOS Standard in Leon County
LOS ‘A’ – The highest quality of traffic service; motorists are able to travel at their desired speed.
LOS ‘B’ – Similar to LOS ‘A,’ although the presence of other vehicles becomes noticeable.
LOS ‘C’ – The influence of increased traffic density becomes marked. The ability to maneuver within the traffic stream is affected by the presence of other vehicles.
LOS ‘D’ – The traffic flow is unstable and the ability to maneuver is severely restricted due to traffic congestion. Travel speed is reduced by the increasing volume.
LOS ‘E’ – The road is operating at or near the design capacity of the road. Disruptions in the traffic flow are not readily dissipated and regression to LOS ‘F’ occurs frequently.
LOS ‘F’ – The road is heavily congested with traffic demand exceeding the design capacity of the road.
Leon County Report: Ten Roads Operating Below Minimum Traffic Standards added by Staff on
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Just read all the long responses, funny, especially
The reference that Yankees
Can go back. The truth is we
Are 25 years behind all elements of growth. We dont have interstate additional due to failing to submit funding on timely basis 45 years back.
I think its humourous the the last rating starts with an F.
Thats us, f….. .
Amen Mike! I’m so tired of hearing about they way they did it up north. If they did such a good job up north why did they move down here? And why do they think doing the same thing down here will solve the Problem – it sure was effective up north, right.
Why not have the State stager it’s work hours so everyone isn’t getting off work at the same time. Why not make Thomasville Road one way into town in the morning and one way out of town in the afternoon – using all the lanes.
Has anyone been to TMH? The roads around there are a joke. Magnolia/Centerville/Betton area has major traffic that is like trying to force 5 gallons of water through a straw. I thought I was smart, cutting through neighborhoods to save myself 25 minutes of waiting to get to Thomasville Rd and then Meridian. Now others are doing the same. If we can’t fix the existing roads in some areas, maybe look at flyovers or multi-level one way roads (level 1 one direction, Level 2 opposite direction). With the expected population growth, something has to be figured out.
So now the question is: why are we wasting millions of dollars extending Weems Rd? It will have a minimal impact on the Captital Circle/Mahan intersection. Very few are going to divert to Weems. The money could have been better spent putting in right and left turn lanes at locations all over the city.
Most of Tallahassee’s congestion issues are at peak hour, morning and afternoon rush hours. Where is Thomasville Road? as it is bumper to bumper every afternoon from Betton to I-10, taking a half hour to go a couple of miles. This road could certainly use 6 lanes from Betton to I-10. Monroe St and Mahan are also very congested. Mahan could use a widening from Riggins to CCNE. On Tennessee St as you approach Monroe St from the east, removal of on street parking in front of Leon High would allow a lane that could carry traffic to the one way northbound Gadsden and alleviate some of the congestion at the Tennessee and Monroe intersection (a right turn lane at this intersection would also help immensely as there is 19.5 ft there, wide enough for a turn lane and a sidewalk). We could reduce congestion by building turn lanes at key intersections. Probably need to widen Gadsden, Calhoun, Bronough, and Duval as well. Gaines St could have survived and functioned well as a 4 lane road with a reduced speed. I drive Buck Lake and Pedrick every day and they are not LOS E, no way. Only for the 20-30 minutes in the AM and PM peaks. So I question the data on some of these.
“These 21 roadway segments are operating at 100% volume to capacity ratio or greater, and are therefore exceeding the LOS adopted…”
This statement is false. LOS is based on delay. They can make the “adopted LOS” anything they want. Most urban centers would kill to have LOS C.
It is amazing to see the capital of the FL state does not have a ring road of an auxiliary freeway to I-10. Is it the funding issue or lack of interest in city development?
Florida is way backward than northern states.
Jim – I’m a born & raised Floridian, grew up in Tampa Bay, lived in Orlando and other FL regions for 40 years before moving to Tallahassee a decade ago. I travel frequently to Central and South FL.
Judging by the amount of “northerners” I encounter everywhere around FL and in traffic, I’d say there must be something about “backward” FL that is vastly, inarguably better than anything the northern states have, do, or could do. Otherwise all these northerners might choose to remain where they grew up. Many of us FL natives wish the great majority of migrating northerners would remain in their “advanced” home states, rather than move here and constantly remark about how “better” is is up north. Their mere presence here contradicts their words.
Living in FL all my life, I’ve seen the “progress” of major FL cities like Miami, Orlando and Tampa, and most of the FL coasts. With all due respect, Jim – perhaps you know of how beautiful those areas once were (long decades ago) before the inundation of population and the resulting degrade in quality of life. Personally, I’m glad to live in a remaining area of FL that hasn’t “progressed” with the rest of FL. Most of Florida is being loved to death.
Staff: suggest “quotes” be used for portions taken directly from the County’s report.
“Miccosukee Road westbound from Dempsey Mayo Road to Fleischmann Road is a constrained Canopy Road, with reserved trips from nearby residential and commercial development. The Northeast Gateway project will relieve congestion on Miccosukee Road by constructing Welaunee Boulevard South (Fleischmann Road to Interstate 10) and Welaunee Boulevard North (I-10 to Shamrock Way).” Unfortunately, TR’s statement continues the City’s fallacy it has been perpetrating for over 15 years and disappointing that TR picked up on it without further thought.
First, let’s be completely honest. The NE Gateway Road is simply a wrongly “single-purpose” proposed BluePrint taxpayer funded road to assist the developer of Canopy/Welaunee to further develop its property without complete funding by the developer.
Secondly, it’s connection to Shamrock in Killearn was recently roundly rejected by the Killearn HOA and citizens at a recent and very short meeting at Holy Comforter this week. These BluePrint $50 MILLION funds should be better used where it will benefit ALL the residents of Tallahassee and Leon County.
One example: Fix the City’s already ailing and spill-prone clay pipe raw sewage system which had over 1.3 million gallons of spills in 2018! A system which has been under a previously unknown (to our citizens) FDEP Consent Order since 2009 (which drew attention to the ailing clay pipe system) and subject to tens of thousands of dollars in fines and $3 Million in repairs and upgrades yearly! Let’s get it fixed and actually use BluePrint funds for a project that will benefit ALL City residents!
Lastly, the traffic on the Fleischman-Dempsey Mayo segment is not guaranteed (TR: “…will relieve congestion on Miccosukee Road…”) to be reduced as this article states by means of the NE Gateway. Quite simply, folks traveling this portion of Miccosukee Road and further East will continue to do so since they live and commute in this area! Miccosukee is a major arterial road with traffic feeding from the TMH hospital area, then further influenced by Capital Circle traffic feeding in. Furthermore, the North and South Dempsey Mayo extension ACROSS the Canopy/Welaunee development to Centerville Road may actually INCREASE traffic on this segment when it is fully completed! Likewise, when the Edenfield Rd is extended across the Greenway into Canopy, there is a strong possibility it, too, will bring more traffic onto Miccosukee Road.
Terry Ryan – Co-Founder
Residents of Centerville Road Group
Terry, This a story on the report issued by Leon County providing information and assessments by government officials. There are no “TR statements”. I have edited the article to make this point clearer to the reader.
THE WORST road in town to find yourself on is Gaines Street. It is a one-mile-long, two-lane parking lot.
Why is it not on this list?
Thanks, ex-commissars.
There are a lot of roads not on the list.
Because there is nothing more they can do about Gaines Street. The closed off Woodward between Gaines & Tennessee which messes up Traffic on Gaines, they allowed all the Buildings to be built right up to the Road. They screwed up, if you think Gaines is bad NOW, wait until they get the Airport Gateway built. It’s coming, be ready…………
David,
The Commission could do another bottleneckification on Gaines . . .
“LOS ‘D’ – The traffic flow is unstable and the ability to maneuver is severely restricted due to traffic congestion. Travel speed is reduced by the increasing volume. ” …………………. For THIS, you can blame those Drivers on their CELL PHONES.
“Canopy roads cannot be widened due to negative environmental impacts.” …………………… WHAT Environmental Impacts? If they widen the Road, not only do they remove the Trees, they remove any Soil that would normally wash away after the Tree is gone so they can put in Drainage and Sidewalks and after Construction, they Plant a LOT more Trees then they removed. So, tell the truth, you just don’t want to pissoff the Tree Huggers.