Gainesville residents weighed the safety benefits and costs of proposed University Avenue improvements at public meetings this week.
The Florida Department of Transportation and the city of Gainesville held virtual and in-person meetings Sept. 1 and 2 to gather feedback on the proposal.
The project would resurface about 2.3 miles of University Avenue from Gale Lemerand Drive to Northeast Waldo Road, extend the median at Fletcher Drive and Northwest 18th Street and install a pedestrian crossing with a pedestrian hybrid beacon near the Matheson History Museum on East University Avenue.
“[University Avenue] is not as safe as it could be, particularly for bicyclists and pedestrians,” said Kim Popejoy, a Gainesville resident who attended the Sept. 2 meeting.
The project is separate from safety improvements, including raised crosswalks, made previously along University Avenue near the University of Florida campus.
“I think the city has done a great job around the campus, but the opportunity to extend that same concept to the full length of University Avenue is something that I would support,” Popejoy said.
The proposal is part of the FDOT’s Target Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate transportation-related deaths. It aligns with Gainesville’s separate Vision Zero initiative, which also focuses on roadway safety.
The FDOT determined the need for the improvements following studies of traffic and roadway conditions, said Emily Harrington, an FDOT public information officer.
The meetings gave residents a chance to speak with the project team while the proposal is still in the design phase. Harrington said feedback has been mostly positive, but public comments can lead the department to consider changes.
“A lot of the time people will come in with a negative comment,” Harrington said. “They’ll come and talk to our project team and they’ll explain why we are proposing this, and they’ll leave feeling a little bit more confident.”
The improvements are estimated to cost $5.4 million. Harrington said the project is federally funded, with no city of Gainesville funding going toward construction.
Joanne Auth, a longtime Gainesville resident, questioned whether infrastructure alone can address unsafe behavior on the road.
“It is upsetting to see all that money poured in when really strong education programs might yield more benefit,” Auth said.
She said she also worries the project could have effects that planners do not anticipate.
Construction is expected to begin in winter 2027 and end in spring 2029. Harrington said the extended timeline is partly because much of the work will take place at night to limit disruptions along the busy corridor.
Road closures could still require police officers to adjust their routes, Gainesville Police Sgt. Lynne Valdes said.
“As law enforcement, we need to get to where we’re going as fast as we can,” Valdes said. “It’s going to be my job to get that information out to our officers so that they are already prescheduling a detour so that they don’t run into a roadblock.”
One of the project’s largest proposed changes is a pedestrian crossing near the Matheson History Museum.
The crossing would connect to the Sweetwater Greenway Trail and use a pedestrian hybrid beacon. Pedestrians could activate the beacon to alert approaching drivers. The proposal would also close an existing median opening and remove a turn lane.
“It’s something that we’ve been interested in here at the Matheson for a long time,” said John Barrow, president of the Matheson History Museum Board of Directors. “It’ll really benefit the community at large.”
Barrow said vehicles can pick up speed near the museum because of the slope of the road and the distance between nearby traffic lights. The proposed beacon is intended to make pedestrians more visible to drivers.
Public comments will be accepted through Sept. 14 and added to the project’s official record. FDOT will consider the feedback before finalizing the design and moving the project through its approval process. If approved, construction is expected to begin in winter 2027.
Barrow said construction is common in a growing downtown, and temporary disruptions would be worthwhile if the project improves safety.
“When that construction is ultimately going to make a better, safer corridor for both pedestrians and drivers, that’s a short-term pain for long-term gain,” Barrow said.