E. 131st Avenue PLAT Study

2. EXISTING CONDITIONS

II. Multimodal Facilities

Bicycle Facilities Bicycle facilities along the corridor are discontinuous and inconsistently marked. Shoulder striping is present throughout the corridor, and bicycle lanes are marked around the N. 22 nd Street intersection and west of the intersection with Bruce B Downs Boulevard. Away from the Bruce B Downs Boulevard and N. 22 nd Street intersections, these bicycle lane segments transition into paved shoulders, which vary in width from four feet to less than one foot without consistency or warning. Bicycle counts also showed more bicycle activity on the eastern end of the corridor, while field review illuminated much bicycle activity on the sidewalks. For more information on the counts, please see Appendix VI .

Pedestrian Facilities As mentioned in the previous section, pedestrian facilities are present throughout the corridor, but are not continuous. There is a 129-foot sidewalk gap on the north side of the roadway around the CSX railroad crossing and a half-mile gap on the south side at the eastern end of the roadway. The rest of the corridor features continuous sidewalks on both sides of the road between N. 15 th Street and Bruce B Downs Boulevard. Not all of the existing sidewalks appear to meet current design standards. For example, the sidewalks along the Toyota of Tampa Bay parcel are frequently blocked by poles, signs, and sometimes parked vehicles. Other areas, such as along the county-owned stormwater pond parcel, have sidewalks as narrow as three feet in width. Although the eastern end of the corridor has several mid-block crossings, the west end has no crossing for nearly half a mile between N. Nebraska Avenue and N. 15 th Street. Pedestrian facilitites can be seen in Figure 2-6 . Despite the sometimes substandard pedestrian facilities along E. 131 st Avenue, there is no lack of pedestrian activity. Pedestrian counts revealed the mid-block crossing in front of the V.A. Hospital to have the largest pedestrian volumes along the corridor. An especially high number of motorized wheelchair users were also observed on multiple field visits. Throughout the corridor are sidewalks that are cracked, raised, sunken or not ADA compliant, and this was further evidenced by a number of wheelchairs operating in the shoulder of the road.

44

E. 131 ST AVENUE PLAT STUDY PRELIMINARY LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION STUDY

Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog