News-Press: Sidewalk studies go full steam ahead

Today's article focuses on studies underway in Collier County about walkability in various North Naples neighborhoods, and quotes the Naples Pathways Coalition's Michele Avola about the importance of walkability. The article also mentions Lee County conditions and quotes Dan Moser of BikeWalkLee.
News-Press, Dec. 18, 2011

A North Naples community that local
officials say is in need of mobility
improvements will be examined this spring
as Collier County reaches the halfway point
in a six-area walkable communities study.

A Metropolitan Planning Organization-
commissioned study of Naples Park will
look at elements such as lighting, benches
and routes to and from bus stops,
businesses and other key destinations,
principal planner Lorraine Lantz said.

The study follows an examination of Naples
Manor that was completed in 2010 as well
as an Immokalee report the MPO adopted
last week.

The studies, scheduled in order of need,
could bring more funding for street
improvements, Lantz said. Golden Gate
City, Naples and Marco Island will follow
Naples Park, with a goal of completing two
studies per year.

The Immokalee report found 63 percent of
the community’s 73 miles of public streets
have no sidewalks.

The area received an overall “C” grade for
categories that included continuity of bike
lanes and sidewalks to visual appeal and
crosswalks. Naples Manor earned a “D”
overall with only a portion of one of its 31
streets containing sidewalks on both sides.

The Naples Manor study was completed
in-house, while the county paid Naples-
based RWA Consulting almost $18,000 for
work on the Immokalee report, with some
data compiled in-house, county
spokeswoman Connie Deane said. The
remaining four studies will use consultants
and each should cost between $40,000
and $50,000.

The Naples Park study is scheduled nine
years after Coral Gables-based Dover,
Kohl & Partners presented a plan for
Naples Park — which was developed in the
1950s and lies west of U.S. 41 — that the
county did not adopt.

The plan suggested pedestrian and bicycle
connections, elements such as
roundabouts, connections to commercial
areas such as those on Vanderbilt Beach
Road and U.S. 41, and sidewalks on all
streets.

Sidewalks run along main thoroughfares in
the 3,000-home community, but not on the
majority of roads.

“There are a ton of kids there. So many of
them are walking in the street,” said
Michelle Avola, executive director for the
Naples Pathways Coalition.
Walkable communities, Avola said, can help
relieve traffic congestion as seniors age
and in a country where about 50 percent of
trips are three miles or less, according to a
2008 National Household Transportation
survey.

“The solution to our traffic nightmare is not
adding more lanes,” Avola said. “It’s
providing resources for pedestrians and
cyclists as well. Get some people out of
their cars safely.”

Cyclist Maria Hoyt bikes through Naples
Park along Vanderbilt Drive, south of B
luebill Avenue to Vanderbilt Beach Road.
Although Hoyt said vehicles travel fairly
slow, she tries to avoid the road when
possible.

“It is very dangerous,” she said of
Vanderbilt Drive, which the NPC included
on a list of priority improvements it has
submitted to the county. “There is no bike
lane and the roadway is very narrow.”

The nearby entrance area for Mercato also
lacks accessibility, said Avola and Stacy
Revay, healthy communities coordinator for
the Collier County Health Department.

“Mercato has done a pretty good job, but
that’s just inside Mercato,” Revay said.
“There’s no sidewalk that extends into the
development.”

Naples earns an overall walkability score of
46 out of 100 from Walk Score, a national
website that promotes walkable cities. Fort
Myers’ score is 43. Scores under 50 are
considered car-dependent communities.

With a score of 11, Lehigh Acres ranks as
the third least walkable community in the
state, after The Acreage in Palm Beach
County and Poinciana, straddling Osceola
and Polk counties. Miami Beach ranks No.
1 with a score of 75.

Lehigh’s major roadways are not very
pedestrian or cyclist-friendly, said Dan
Moser, a founding member of BikeWalkLee.
College Parkway and Cypress Lake Drive in
south Fort Myers also are in need of
improvements.

Overall, Collier and Lee — which in 2009
adopted the National Complete Streets
Coalition’s roadway standards — are
similar in terms of accessibility, Moser said.

“Both places have pockets of pretty good
access,” he said. “Other parts of the
counties are lacking.”