To the Editor:
A retired passenger transportation professional of 45+ years, I know a boondoggle when I see it and a failure of community planning when clearly it exists.
Soon, in addition to the atrocious debacle of “planning” and building the State Road 200 “improvements,” which have only worsened traffic congestion between I-75 and US 301, Marion County is preparing to widen State Road 80 from 99th Street to U.S. Highway 27.
This is welcomed, but the idiots at the Florida Department of Transportation are now planning to configure “roundabouts” at SR 80 and 38th street, and about 1/4 mile further north, at the exit from West Port High School onto SW 80th Avenue.
These FDOT people need their heads examined!
This area is flooded with inexperienced high school drivers. Worse, it is also an area largely occupied by very senior citizens.
None of these social strata mix well, and FDOT/Marion County is only inviting accident disasters in roundabouts that sanctify drivers of diverse, if not challenged, skills.
Mixing teenaged driving novices with seniors over age 65 is a disaster in the making, and this brings into question about who is making such design decisions at FDOT?
A simple 4-way stop that everyone understands is the right choice, not a “Pierre L’Enfant” design for primitive 1700’s horse drawn circles that served well then but today failed to recognize the current realities of motor driver vehicles and the skill of the drivers behind them.
Shame on Marion County and FDOT for their failure to recognize the character and competence of the community most frequently accessing this area.
Respectfully,
David Halperin, Ocala
Retired 45+ years career passenger transportation executive & safety manager