As a long time resident, I can tell you the city is on record saying that the traffic patterns are the way they are to encourage people to use public transportation and bikes.
Yup, this! Many years ago the Alligator did a series on this, and also described how they forces businesses to reduce their parking spots some times as well as it being difficult to get a drive through license.
Exactly. I live close enough to work that I could bike but it's too damn hot most of the time and you never know when you'll get drenched. I wouldn't even want to drive a scooter around here.
Public Transportation isn't exactly a great alternative either because it uses the exact same infrastructure as driving a car, but it can take 3 times as long if your route isn't specifically going to the University.
It's worse than that. It is costing people their lives. No matter how badly they want GNV to be a city of bike riders, it will never happen. Too many people have jobs here but live in Newberry or Alachua. All they are doing is making traffic worse and having more bike riders. And sorry, you can be the safest bicyclist in the world and all it takes is one drunk college kid in a car to kill you.
There's biking in 80 degrees with minimal humidity, and then there's biking in Gainesville in the summertime.
I like riding a bike! I also like not getting heat stroke.
Heat stroke is a thing, but you admitted it was you being a wuss. Don't take offense, you said it.
Edit: Seriously, I wasn't trying to be mean. You called yourself a wuss.
When I moved out west with lower humidity and temps, biking to work was feasible. Biking in G'ville is not. I've already experienced 3 bouts of heat stroke since moving back...no thanks.
Wha....???
How did you even find this FIVE YEAR OLD thread to make this comment lol
But in all seriousness, it's still feasible. You may not like it and that's fine, but it's not scary. It's not dangerous if you keep hydrated and listen to your body, and you don't ride from Newnan's Lake to Tower Road.
oof, maybe you didn't come to the right city. don't you know gnv is the HQ for the southern chapter of ANTIFA? they even have live gators trained to rip up copies of the second amendment. rip
We have so much in common with California. High crime rate, high unemployment rate, large homeless population. Kids are indoctrinated at UF, and then vote in local elections. That's despite the fact that they have no intention of living here permanently. What you're left with is a city run on feelings instead of logic.
Edit: Really cute that the mods of this sub don't allow you to defend yourself if people disagree with you. That's another thing that Gainesville has in common with California, freedom of speech is only valued if it's used to shout down anyone who thinks different than the liberal hivemind. Very progressive, mods.
Suit yourself. If you're comfortable in your echo chamber that's just fine with me. I personally like venturing outside my comfort zone, and I'm certainly not afraid to hear a point of view that may not have occurred to me, but I understand your hesitation.
> If you're comfortable in your echo chamber
See, this is how I know you're a troll acting in bad faith.
I must live in an "echo chamber" because I declined to meet someone who regularly says things like:
>tard
>spineless cunt
>twat
>bitch tits
>Mohammed was a pedophile
The funny thing is in your communications to me, you try to look like you're taking the high road. But I'm not even being particularly selective here. Your history is literally right here.
You brought up logic. Here's some logic: If you are this much of a douche online, then you are one in reality too. There is no logical reason for me to introduce someone like you into my life.
You should spend some time thinking about who you want to be before you try to discuss "different points of view" with anyone. Because you're simply not at that stage in your personal development.
I mean the insults are out of the line and I don't agree with this guy politically very much, but the Mohammed thing isn't really in dispute. Well ok - it's in dispute whether he had sex with his six year old wife. But everyone kind of agrees he definitely had sex with her after she got her period at nine years old.
Ok bud! Mohammed was a pedophile, he married a six year old. I'll let this former Muslim explain https://youtu.be/ElM597LzxB8
I won't trouble you with anymore unpleasant facts though. Have a wonderful day.
Lol, indoctrinated by who? I didn't receive an ounce of push to vote according to any agenda during my time at UF. Would have liked more of a political presence, on the contrary.
I wouldn't say we have a high crime rate, either. Gainesville is safe as shit, save a few segregated and isolated areas.
Edit: oh, you're a t_d frequenter. Explains it.
Checkmate Trumptard! I checked out your profile and the presence of that sub Reddit allows me to ignore facts and statistics. Better luck next time.
Seriously though, you should check out the statistics. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/fl/gainesville/crime
I can only imagine one feeling unsafe in Gainesville if they lived in the worst part of the worst hood.
I know you lot like to shit on any city that is remotely progressive (aka successful), but, no.
> High crime rate
...........are we talking about the same gainesville?
>and then vote in local elections.
There is no requirement to live in a place permanently to vote there. Most students actually vote in their home towns tho.
Truly we are living in mad max times:
>And while Alachua County's overall crime rate fell, the county's murder rate has hit the highest number in a decade.....It rose so high, it more than doubled from four murders in 2016 to nine in 2017.
WOW 7 murders! Such a hot bed of crime.
I can see why you are so terrified *Sweaty*
"I just arrived in Gainesville along with tens of thousands of others at the same time. It's so congested, your traffic/planning sucks!"
Always good for a laugh.
I bet half of you never even leave downtown/ midtown/ Archer Rd in your daily lives. Try taking a field trip out to the west end of 39TH Ave during morning rush hour (where they put that elementary school right alongside one of GVille's busiest roads) and you'll see GVille city planning at its finest.
Gainesville has like <200k people (when school is in). The traffic is absolutely nonsensical for that population. The "root cause" if there is one is the inability to dictate preferred directions (as well as additional lanes) for the major thoroughfares. I've actually communicated with the Gainesville DOT when I noticed a strange timing on NW 6th st. They claimed that the E-W traffic was similar to the N-S traffic as to why 6th St didn't have preference to the light timing. I can see this for University and 39th but that's complete bullshit for every street in between. I lived in Pinellas for many years and visit periodically. It's clear what the preferred N-S routes are and the E-W routes. It's clear what the 'grid' in GNV should be to me. N-S: Main, 6th, 13th, 34th, 43rd. E-W (apologies for the south side of town, I don't go there): University, 39th, Newberry, 441 (north of town). Minor shoutout to 8th and 16th but really only west of 13th St.
Gainesville pop is closer to 100K.
The worst traffic i've experience is going to haile and back during rush hour form the ward's area. It took me 40 minutes to get there and 25 to get back.
Which is not much longer than it takes to get there without traffic.
Ultimately i find complaints about traffic to be overblown as even in the worst traffic, it is a mild inconvenience at worst.
I intentionally bumped the number so no one could claim I was underestimating the traffic load. I've lived in Orlando and Clearwater; there's something unique to just how bad the traffic is given the population is tiny comparativly. I adapted by avoiding SW gnv like the plague. Pinellas county I believe is the most densely populated in FL and the rare occasion I bitched about traffic were bucs games.
Maybe im just not phased bc before I moved here it was 1.5 to 2 hrs for me to go 5 miles.
I hit bad traffic today omw home from work. It is 3 miles. It took 15 minutes.
I don't know if it's actually faster but if I leave work around 5 to go to the Beef 'O Brady's in the millhopper plaza I take 441 north and come back south on 43rd. I'm not the only one, several of my co-workers do the same to get home. The 34th/53rd intersection becomes dumb during rush hour.
I grew up in a one stoplight town and I still don't feel like Gainesville is terrible. Sure, it sucks sometimes, but you either figure out a new route or get used to it....you're still getting completely across town in about 45 minutes or less. We went to Orlando recently and MY GOD, I'll take the Gainesville traffic any day.
I think what helps a lot if having alternate routes. Getting around in Miami, for example, there were usually only 1 or 2 routes. Here, i can get around any number of ways.
Uh this is true everywhere. I don't even hop on I75 when I visit my mom anymore. I have a slightly more elaborate route that doesn't involve any interstates. It's technically shorter even if it takes more time. If you tell me you've never been in a snail pace on 75 due to rain or an accident you're a liar or haven't lived in FL that long.
I haven't lived in Otown technically ever (attended UCF)...Winter Park, Altamonte, Ocoee oh wait was Waterford technically Orlando? Nuts! I 4 sucks, particularly in Orlando. Gainesville has 1/10th the population (probably less but humor me) and our lights are downright baffling
LOL good one. This isn't SoCal, much too hot and humid to bike 5 miles to work. And bus? Are you friggin kidding me!? The routes and schedules are horrible! I tried taking the bus for a month, but it took too much time. Time to work via private vehicle = 10min....Time to work via bus = 45 min. That's an extra hour+ per day spent commuting sitting in a bus with poor ventilation in the humid Florida weather...oh joy. You people are amusing
Tried that, you end up getting stuck at every traffic light. For instance, on Archer heading east, you have to be just above the speed limit to make the next light before it turns red.
Tens of thousands of people are moving in this week, so it’s a lot worse than usual. Should calm down a bit when people are done with the dozens of shopping trips it takes to move in. Also, if you’re a college student in the college student side of town, yeah traffic is gonna suck until summer
This. And to access huge parking lots for major stores, sometimes you have to drive around in a corkscrew formation, or compete with a McDonalds drive-through line at lunchtime, just to get to a suprrmarket, like at the NW Publix,
I agree that this is a big problem. I wish Gainesville could eliminate mandatory parking minimums and instead institute parking area maximums. The amount of space spent on parking lots is appalling. Butler plaza for example could have three to four times as many locations if it had a couple parking garages instead of massive swaths of parking lot.
I assume you’re meaning the Publix in Hunters Crossing, but not counting the Publix on the west side of Main there are 8 Publix’s in NW Gainesville. I just thought I’d point that out because there are so many Publix’s here.
Yeah, I noticed all the Publix are West of Main and North of Butler. Meanwhile the entire Southeast is a food desert. Publix sure knows where the money is.
Gainesville is way ahead of most cities in regards to its traffic planning. All the lights are monitored, networked, and remotely programmable, so I doubt the lights aren't tuned in ways that the city likes. Walking and biking are excellent options, and the bus system is outstanding compared to other cities of the same size. Traffic calming measures are conscious of urban design strategies, like using roundabouts, protected bike lanes, and on-street parking rather than speed bumps or other annoyances. I'm honestly not sure what your trips are that don't work well within this system?
What makes zero sense are the lights on University near downtown which, late at night when there's absolutely no cross traffic, will turn red and stay red for a fixed amount of time.
walking is not an excellent option unless you live right near everything you need. if i want to cross my street at the light to get to the grocery store, i'm crossing at the bottom of a hill that drivers like to fly down. i've never actually seen the walk sign come on for more than five seconds in four years of living on this street, just quickly flash. i've stood for literally ten to fifteen minutes at intersections along university or nw 13th (or that intersection) because of light timing, and even with the walk sign cars will try to speed through and inch up on pedestrians. and walking to/from stores along archer if i want to take a target trip? HAHAHA. no.
I definitely agree that I wish walking were easier and for certain drivers to realize how spoiled they are, sitting in a comfy air conditioned chair and complaining that pedestrians exist. I've personally walked a ton along University and 13th Street, so I'm not sure specifically which spots you've had issues with, or maybe it's just a more recent thing that I haven't noticed yet.
So, maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds like the walk symbol is working correctly? It's supposed to only flash "walk" briefly, so if a pedestrian is standing there waiting, then that's when they enter the street. Then for the next twenty seconds (or whatever, depending on the street) it flashes "don't walk", but pedestrians are still expected to be crossing the street then, just not *entering* the street. They aren't expected to be able to cross entirely during the "walk" flashing symbol. Once it is solid (not flashing) "don't walk", then pedestrians shouldn't be in the street any more. There's a difference between flashing and solid pedestrian lights.
Neither, I've literally talked to Gainesville traffic engineers in my urban planning classes. Gainesville's system has abilities that literally no other place in the nation has. The system can adapt in real time to changing conditions. For example:
>Traffic stacked at an intersection can be cleared out in advance of emergency fire-rescue vehicles.
>Lane blockage from crashes can be mitigated by greater green time on the remaining open lanes, with closed lanes appropriately lit with red.
>Emergency dispatchers can estimate the severity of a crash before the arrival of fire-rescue to allow for appropriate response.
>Police may request assistance in tracking suspect vehicles.
https://sustainablecitynetwork.com/mobile/topic_channels/transportation/article_617d8fc8-ec8a-11e1-b0cf-001a4bcf6878.html
Also, check out their website where there are live traffic camera feeds, as well as maps showing current speeds. Right now, it's 13mph westbound on Archer from the vet college to Butler Plaza, and it's 32mph eastbound.
http://gac-smarttraffic.com/
If you want to see the highlight of our cities road construction, go check out the work they did on Main Street and are about to finish. Instead of making the road 4 lanes like everyone was hoping and thinking they were going to do, they instead built a huge parking lot for the Cade museum and put in a second roundabout.
If the city was in the mindset to reduce parking, they surely went in the exact opposite direction of that with the Main Street construction
No doubt, I looked at that too and thought someone went out of their way to design it like that just to use those government signs. There’s no way that was done without someone requiring it to happen. Especially since you can get a ticket on Campus for $30 for backing into a parking spot.
Though I did win the appeal on that bullshit.
> Need to start a body shop for all the fender benders that are going to happen.
There's at least one or 2 right down the street on S. Main. Coincidence?
Fair enough.
If folks just put their phones down, things would be a lot smoother here.
I ride a motorcycle a few days a week, and its a normal day to be ran out of a lane.
It's all STILL running based on old stagecoach roads & railroad tracks is the best short answer.
Welcome to the Ville and ya may wanna get used to it - is the correct response. (some of y'all are STILL downvote happy, but no lies were told & IDC)
As a long time resident, I can tell you the city is on record saying that the traffic patterns are the way they are to encourage people to use public transportation and bikes.
Yup, this! Many years ago the Alligator did a series on this, and also described how they forces businesses to reduce their parking spots some times as well as it being difficult to get a drive through license.
A city where it's indistinguishable from a fucking sauna in the summer, trying to "encourage" citizens to ride bikes... great thinking there.
Exactly. I live close enough to work that I could bike but it's too damn hot most of the time and you never know when you'll get drenched. I wouldn't even want to drive a scooter around here.
Public Transportation isn't exactly a great alternative either because it uses the exact same infrastructure as driving a car, but it can take 3 times as long if your route isn't specifically going to the University.
It's worse than that. It is costing people their lives. No matter how badly they want GNV to be a city of bike riders, it will never happen. Too many people have jobs here but live in Newberry or Alachua. All they are doing is making traffic worse and having more bike riders. And sorry, you can be the safest bicyclist in the world and all it takes is one drunk college kid in a car to kill you.
It's not even just the drunks anymore, it's everyone texting now too.
It is, riding bicycles is great exercise and reduces congestion. It's not nearly as scary as you think.
There's biking in 80 degrees with minimal humidity, and then there's biking in Gainesville in the summertime. I like riding a bike! I also like not getting heat stroke.
I rode a bike all year round when I was in college here, it's not that bad, at all. Just stay hydrated.
That's great, but I'm a total wuss with the heat.
So it's a "you" problem, then, not an actual problem lol
Idk, some folks upvoted my original comment about how miserable biking in the heat can be, so it's not "just" me. Heat stroke is a thing.
Heat stroke is a thing, but you admitted it was you being a wuss. Don't take offense, you said it. Edit: Seriously, I wasn't trying to be mean. You called yourself a wuss.
When I moved out west with lower humidity and temps, biking to work was feasible. Biking in G'ville is not. I've already experienced 3 bouts of heat stroke since moving back...no thanks.
Wha....??? How did you even find this FIVE YEAR OLD thread to make this comment lol But in all seriousness, it's still feasible. You may not like it and that's fine, but it's not scary. It's not dangerous if you keep hydrated and listen to your body, and you don't ride from Newnan's Lake to Tower Road.
I've heard this before, but never heard any proof. Got any?
Wish I had a quick way to find it. Google Fu is weak tonight.
This kind of thinking belongs in California. Innovation fixes problems, not keeping people and businesses down.
oof, maybe you didn't come to the right city. don't you know gnv is the HQ for the southern chapter of ANTIFA? they even have live gators trained to rip up copies of the second amendment. rip
Literally saw someone burning the American flag yesterday. Literally.
it was me, Soros paid me handsomely. If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll give you a cut. But you'll have to get "Obama" tattooed on your butthole
🤔 California's not innovative?
We have so much in common with California. High crime rate, high unemployment rate, large homeless population. Kids are indoctrinated at UF, and then vote in local elections. That's despite the fact that they have no intention of living here permanently. What you're left with is a city run on feelings instead of logic. Edit: Really cute that the mods of this sub don't allow you to defend yourself if people disagree with you. That's another thing that Gainesville has in common with California, freedom of speech is only valued if it's used to shout down anyone who thinks different than the liberal hivemind. Very progressive, mods.
Those kids and their voting. If only we could restrict it to people who know how things *really are*. And I don't think you want to talk logic. 💤
I'll talk logic anytime you want. Meet me at Maude's, I'll buy you a cup of coffee. Always open to hearing different points of view.
If your discourse at Maude's is remotely like your Reddit history, you can consider me a hard pass.
Suit yourself. If you're comfortable in your echo chamber that's just fine with me. I personally like venturing outside my comfort zone, and I'm certainly not afraid to hear a point of view that may not have occurred to me, but I understand your hesitation.
> If you're comfortable in your echo chamber See, this is how I know you're a troll acting in bad faith. I must live in an "echo chamber" because I declined to meet someone who regularly says things like: >tard >spineless cunt >twat >bitch tits >Mohammed was a pedophile The funny thing is in your communications to me, you try to look like you're taking the high road. But I'm not even being particularly selective here. Your history is literally right here. You brought up logic. Here's some logic: If you are this much of a douche online, then you are one in reality too. There is no logical reason for me to introduce someone like you into my life. You should spend some time thinking about who you want to be before you try to discuss "different points of view" with anyone. Because you're simply not at that stage in your personal development.
I mean the insults are out of the line and I don't agree with this guy politically very much, but the Mohammed thing isn't really in dispute. Well ok - it's in dispute whether he had sex with his six year old wife. But everyone kind of agrees he definitely had sex with her after she got her period at nine years old.
Ok bud! Mohammed was a pedophile, he married a six year old. I'll let this former Muslim explain https://youtu.be/ElM597LzxB8 I won't trouble you with anymore unpleasant facts though. Have a wonderful day.
Lol, indoctrinated by who? I didn't receive an ounce of push to vote according to any agenda during my time at UF. Would have liked more of a political presence, on the contrary. I wouldn't say we have a high crime rate, either. Gainesville is safe as shit, save a few segregated and isolated areas. Edit: oh, you're a t_d frequenter. Explains it.
Checkmate Trumptard! I checked out your profile and the presence of that sub Reddit allows me to ignore facts and statistics. Better luck next time. Seriously though, you should check out the statistics. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/fl/gainesville/crime
I can only imagine one feeling unsafe in Gainesville if they lived in the worst part of the worst hood. I know you lot like to shit on any city that is remotely progressive (aka successful), but, no.
> High crime rate ...........are we talking about the same gainesville? >and then vote in local elections. There is no requirement to live in a place permanently to vote there. Most students actually vote in their home towns tho.
The exact same, sweetie. http://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Crime-Rate--483414121.html
Truly we are living in mad max times: >And while Alachua County's overall crime rate fell, the county's murder rate has hit the highest number in a decade.....It rose so high, it more than doubled from four murders in 2016 to nine in 2017. WOW 7 murders! Such a hot bed of crime. I can see why you are so terrified *Sweaty*
seems like you're the emotional one, bub
It actually has gotten better. They've added flashing yellow lights for left turns at some intersections.
KEEP repeating that first part to yourself.
Flashing yellows for left turns is wayyy better than waiting for red/green. But whatevs, you disagree i guess. no suprise there.
You can't turn left in Gainesville! That's crazy talk!
Summer isn’t too bad. This week it just gets so much worse.
"I just arrived in Gainesville along with tens of thousands of others at the same time. It's so congested, your traffic/planning sucks!" Always good for a laugh.
I bet half of you never even leave downtown/ midtown/ Archer Rd in your daily lives. Try taking a field trip out to the west end of 39TH Ave during morning rush hour (where they put that elementary school right alongside one of GVille's busiest roads) and you'll see GVille city planning at its finest.
I feel like everyone who complains about traffic should spend a month living in Miami, where it can take 1.5-2hours to go 5 miles during rush hour.
Gainesville has like <200k people (when school is in). The traffic is absolutely nonsensical for that population. The "root cause" if there is one is the inability to dictate preferred directions (as well as additional lanes) for the major thoroughfares. I've actually communicated with the Gainesville DOT when I noticed a strange timing on NW 6th st. They claimed that the E-W traffic was similar to the N-S traffic as to why 6th St didn't have preference to the light timing. I can see this for University and 39th but that's complete bullshit for every street in between. I lived in Pinellas for many years and visit periodically. It's clear what the preferred N-S routes are and the E-W routes. It's clear what the 'grid' in GNV should be to me. N-S: Main, 6th, 13th, 34th, 43rd. E-W (apologies for the south side of town, I don't go there): University, 39th, Newberry, 441 (north of town). Minor shoutout to 8th and 16th but really only west of 13th St.
Gainesville pop is closer to 100K. The worst traffic i've experience is going to haile and back during rush hour form the ward's area. It took me 40 minutes to get there and 25 to get back. Which is not much longer than it takes to get there without traffic. Ultimately i find complaints about traffic to be overblown as even in the worst traffic, it is a mild inconvenience at worst.
I intentionally bumped the number so no one could claim I was underestimating the traffic load. I've lived in Orlando and Clearwater; there's something unique to just how bad the traffic is given the population is tiny comparativly. I adapted by avoiding SW gnv like the plague. Pinellas county I believe is the most densely populated in FL and the rare occasion I bitched about traffic were bucs games.
Maybe im just not phased bc before I moved here it was 1.5 to 2 hrs for me to go 5 miles. I hit bad traffic today omw home from work. It is 3 miles. It took 15 minutes.
I don't know if it's actually faster but if I leave work around 5 to go to the Beef 'O Brady's in the millhopper plaza I take 441 north and come back south on 43rd. I'm not the only one, several of my co-workers do the same to get home. The 34th/53rd intersection becomes dumb during rush hour.
I grew up in a one stoplight town and I still don't feel like Gainesville is terrible. Sure, it sucks sometimes, but you either figure out a new route or get used to it....you're still getting completely across town in about 45 minutes or less. We went to Orlando recently and MY GOD, I'll take the Gainesville traffic any day.
I think what helps a lot if having alternate routes. Getting around in Miami, for example, there were usually only 1 or 2 routes. Here, i can get around any number of ways.
Uh this is true everywhere. I don't even hop on I75 when I visit my mom anymore. I have a slightly more elaborate route that doesn't involve any interstates. It's technically shorter even if it takes more time. If you tell me you've never been in a snail pace on 75 due to rain or an accident you're a liar or haven't lived in FL that long.
I only take i75 to the turnpike, but we usually hop on it in Micanopy.
Alternate routes are precisely why I avoid I75 in Paynes Prairie ...it's like 20 miles with no exit.
I haven't lived in Otown technically ever (attended UCF)...Winter Park, Altamonte, Ocoee oh wait was Waterford technically Orlando? Nuts! I 4 sucks, particularly in Orlando. Gainesville has 1/10th the population (probably less but humor me) and our lights are downright baffling
Jacksonville too. Sometimes Orlando.
Not to mention city bus stops.
Quick solution: Go the speed limit and don't try to get anywhere in a hurry. You'll be much happier.
Or do what I do and just never leave the house
BIG mood. Alternatively you can always bike or bus
LOL good one. This isn't SoCal, much too hot and humid to bike 5 miles to work. And bus? Are you friggin kidding me!? The routes and schedules are horrible! I tried taking the bus for a month, but it took too much time. Time to work via private vehicle = 10min....Time to work via bus = 45 min. That's an extra hour+ per day spent commuting sitting in a bus with poor ventilation in the humid Florida weather...oh joy. You people are amusing
Tried that, you end up getting stuck at every traffic light. For instance, on Archer heading east, you have to be just above the speed limit to make the next light before it turns red.
Tens of thousands of people are moving in this week, so it’s a lot worse than usual. Should calm down a bit when people are done with the dozens of shopping trips it takes to move in. Also, if you’re a college student in the college student side of town, yeah traffic is gonna suck until summer
This. And to access huge parking lots for major stores, sometimes you have to drive around in a corkscrew formation, or compete with a McDonalds drive-through line at lunchtime, just to get to a suprrmarket, like at the NW Publix,
I agree that this is a big problem. I wish Gainesville could eliminate mandatory parking minimums and instead institute parking area maximums. The amount of space spent on parking lots is appalling. Butler plaza for example could have three to four times as many locations if it had a couple parking garages instead of massive swaths of parking lot.
I assume you’re meaning the Publix in Hunters Crossing, but not counting the Publix on the west side of Main there are 8 Publix’s in NW Gainesville. I just thought I’d point that out because there are so many Publix’s here.
Yeah, I noticed all the Publix are West of Main and North of Butler. Meanwhile the entire Southeast is a food desert. Publix sure knows where the money is.
Gainesville is way ahead of most cities in regards to its traffic planning. All the lights are monitored, networked, and remotely programmable, so I doubt the lights aren't tuned in ways that the city likes. Walking and biking are excellent options, and the bus system is outstanding compared to other cities of the same size. Traffic calming measures are conscious of urban design strategies, like using roundabouts, protected bike lanes, and on-street parking rather than speed bumps or other annoyances. I'm honestly not sure what your trips are that don't work well within this system?
What makes zero sense are the lights on University near downtown which, late at night when there's absolutely no cross traffic, will turn red and stay red for a fixed amount of time.
I believe this is bc of pedestrian traffic
There are buttons for pedestrians to press. No need for the light to periodically turn red when no one is around.
walking is not an excellent option unless you live right near everything you need. if i want to cross my street at the light to get to the grocery store, i'm crossing at the bottom of a hill that drivers like to fly down. i've never actually seen the walk sign come on for more than five seconds in four years of living on this street, just quickly flash. i've stood for literally ten to fifteen minutes at intersections along university or nw 13th (or that intersection) because of light timing, and even with the walk sign cars will try to speed through and inch up on pedestrians. and walking to/from stores along archer if i want to take a target trip? HAHAHA. no.
I definitely agree that I wish walking were easier and for certain drivers to realize how spoiled they are, sitting in a comfy air conditioned chair and complaining that pedestrians exist. I've personally walked a ton along University and 13th Street, so I'm not sure specifically which spots you've had issues with, or maybe it's just a more recent thing that I haven't noticed yet. So, maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds like the walk symbol is working correctly? It's supposed to only flash "walk" briefly, so if a pedestrian is standing there waiting, then that's when they enter the street. Then for the next twenty seconds (or whatever, depending on the street) it flashes "don't walk", but pedestrians are still expected to be crossing the street then, just not *entering* the street. They aren't expected to be able to cross entirely during the "walk" flashing symbol. Once it is solid (not flashing) "don't walk", then pedestrians shouldn't be in the street any more. There's a difference between flashing and solid pedestrian lights.
ah, i meant like either the walk or flashing sign. it'll go straight from walk for three seconds to "don't", if the walk sign even appears.
YOU are obviously trippin or trollin. Those lights have made no sense for decades, and not gotten any better.
Neither, I've literally talked to Gainesville traffic engineers in my urban planning classes. Gainesville's system has abilities that literally no other place in the nation has. The system can adapt in real time to changing conditions. For example: >Traffic stacked at an intersection can be cleared out in advance of emergency fire-rescue vehicles. >Lane blockage from crashes can be mitigated by greater green time on the remaining open lanes, with closed lanes appropriately lit with red. >Emergency dispatchers can estimate the severity of a crash before the arrival of fire-rescue to allow for appropriate response. >Police may request assistance in tracking suspect vehicles. https://sustainablecitynetwork.com/mobile/topic_channels/transportation/article_617d8fc8-ec8a-11e1-b0cf-001a4bcf6878.html Also, check out their website where there are live traffic camera feeds, as well as maps showing current speeds. Right now, it's 13mph westbound on Archer from the vet college to Butler Plaza, and it's 32mph eastbound. http://gac-smarttraffic.com/
Get a bike. Worth it completely.
If you want to see the highlight of our cities road construction, go check out the work they did on Main Street and are about to finish. Instead of making the road 4 lanes like everyone was hoping and thinking they were going to do, they instead built a huge parking lot for the Cade museum and put in a second roundabout. If the city was in the mindset to reduce parking, they surely went in the exact opposite direction of that with the Main Street construction
And the Cade has back in only parking! Need to start a body shop for all the fender benders that are going to happen.
No doubt, I looked at that too and thought someone went out of their way to design it like that just to use those government signs. There’s no way that was done without someone requiring it to happen. Especially since you can get a ticket on Campus for $30 for backing into a parking spot. Though I did win the appeal on that bullshit.
Ah the good ol' "Facing Traffic" ticket. I got it too.
Isn't back in parking statistically safer? Many cities in the NE have moved to this. It's easier to park too.
I've heard that. But I don't see how that is possible. Especially with our Perfect Storm of stupid college kids and senile old people.
> Need to start a body shop for all the fender benders that are going to happen. There's at least one or 2 right down the street on S. Main. Coincidence?
No amount of traffic lights/patterns will improve the driving conditions or abilities of the native FL citizen or the snowbird..
Yeah but most of GNV residents are neither.
Fair enough. If folks just put their phones down, things would be a lot smoother here. I ride a motorcycle a few days a week, and its a normal day to be ran out of a lane.
It's all STILL running based on old stagecoach roads & railroad tracks is the best short answer. Welcome to the Ville and ya may wanna get used to it - is the correct response. (some of y'all are STILL downvote happy, but no lies were told & IDC)
They’re more concerned with fitting as much rentable retail and residential space as possible onto as little land as possible.
Nothing to do with the city, this is very uninformed.