For many Gainesville and Alachua county residents the morning and afternoon commute on southwest Archer road can turn what should be a quick drive into a long one.
That reality may end up being a thing of the past with Alachua County beginning the preliminary design to expand 3.84 miles of Archer road from Southwest 75th St. to Southwest 122nd St. from a two-lane to a four-lane highway.
This comes after Alachua County received a $2.25 million reimbursable grant from the Florida Department of Transportation to complete the initial design work.
It won’t be a quick process, however. “State projects of this magnitude usually are years in the making,” said Stuart Cullen, PE, civil engineer and leader of the county’s capital projects team, “We are excited to assist FDOT in moving this important project forward.”
The County Commission has advocated for the state to convert this road into a four-lane highway for several years now in order to improve traffic flow, enhance safety and support development in southwest Alachua county and in and around the City of Archer, according to the Alachua county website.
“The base is if you go from two to four lanes, with turn lanes and better access management, that you end up with better traffic flow and less delays,” Cullen said.
As urban growth and development continues, so will traffic congestion. A 2019 study conducted by INRIX, a global leader in transportation analytics, found on average that Americans lost about 99 hours a year due to congestion costing them around $1,377 annually.
Besides saving people time and money, one of the goals of widening the road is to make it safer.
A 1999 study conducted by Dr. Forrest M. Council and Dr. J. Richard Stewart of UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center estimated for a divided section of road, meaning there is a physical median, total crashes would reduce about 40-60%, while on an undivided road there was either no reduction or perhaps a 20% reduction. They also noted more research should be done on the topic.
In 2005, a similar study was conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, where they found, “With consideration for safety, conversion from a two-lane with wide shoulder cross section to a four-lane with narrow shoulder cross section should be considered only at very high average daily traffic and wide surface widths.”
FDOT estimates this section of Archer road has an annual average daily traffic of about 22,500 vehicles. This surpasses the arterial road high volume number FDOT has set for urban two-lane facilities AADT which is 20,000 and rural set at 14,000.
Although the design process is just beginning, Gainesville and Alachua county residents who use Archer road can look forward to safer roads and less delays. However, just because it will eventually be four-lanes does not mean all the traffic problems will go away.
Along this stretch of Archer road sits Alachua County Fire Station 81. When speaking to Jeff Taylor, Alachua County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief, he said, “Certainly there are times when traffic is heavier than others in that particular area, but we’ve never really had any issues with getting in or out.” He added, “Traffic can get just as backed up on a four lane road as on a two lane road.”
“I think they’re just looking to try to ease that congestion,” Taylor said, “and as a side benefit, it may help with some of our congestion issues.”