Vero Beach sets meetings to cut 3 lanes, add parking on downtown SR 60; your views sought
When it comes to activists’ decades-long efforts to cut from seven to four lanes the main road from Interstate 95 to U.S. 1 through downtown Vero Beach, the proverbial rubber is about the meet the road.
City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, in the Vero Beach Community Center (2266 14th Ave.) to unveil a consultant’s plan to add parking and bicycle lanes to the eastbound and westbound sections of State Road 60 between the railroad tracks and 20th Avenue.
Three other meetings will determine the fate of what’s called the Twin Pairs:
10 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Metropolitan Planning Organization, Indian River County Administration Building B, 1800 27th St., Vero Beach.
5:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at the community center.
9:30 a.m. Dec. 12 in council chambers at City Hall, 1053 20th Place.
Please plan to attend and learn, then express your opinion, lest a decision be made without your voice being heard.
Vice mayor's flip-flop leads to consultant's study
Flip-flop: Big change in Vero Beach: Moore now wants parking, fewer lanes through downtown
Be transparent: Want to save $150K on Twin Pairs in Vero Beach? This'll convince people quickly
Learn from elsewhere: Houston means one step closer to road diet while Vero Beach plots Twin Pairs lane cuts
End fake fearmongering: Reports: State Road 60 in Vero not speedway, dangerous
From 2021: Vero Beach council to discuss Twin Pairs narrowing; time to express your views
Let locals decide: Cut lanes? Street designer pans Vero Beach Twin Pairs, but says residents must determine future
Earlier this year, TCPalm reported the council voted to spend about $165,000 on plans to reconfigure the Twin Pairs after Vice Mayor Linda Moore flipped on a campaign pledge to not seek additional narrowing. In 2021, City Council voted to trim the road to six narrower lanes, reduce the speed limit and add crosswalks and widen bike lanes.
Twin Pairs critics have offered bogus reasons the past several decades as to why narrowing was needed, from claiming the one-way roads killed downtown (it died more than a decade before construction in 1992) to saying they were dangerous (despite studies showing the opposite in 2021).
Now Twin Pairs naysayers are peddling something more fuzzy: They want to make downtown “pedestrian-friendly.”
As I’ve opined in my columns the past few years, my definition of “pedestrian-friendly” includes some elements activists like (trees and wider sidewalks), but not all.
Past safety proposals not implemented
Take the other night as an example, when I thought about attending a council meeting in person. At the time, it was only 75 degrees out, but with an 80% chance of rain, I watched on cable.
That 80% chance, even on a relatively cool, early fall evening, following an afternoon of severe thunderstorms, was not “pedestrian friendly.” And there’s nothing the city of Vero Beach, the Florida Department of Transportation or any chamber of commerce could do to change that.
Not even narrowing the road.
There’s nothing — short of encapsulating downtown into an air-conditioned dome — any of them can do to eliminate six months of 90-degree weather that makes strolling downtown unfriendly to many pedestrians.
That said, I’m open-minded about changes council proposed in 2021 — I’ve been making safety proposals for the road for many years — and even the ones this year.
But in the 31 years since the Twin Pairs opened, no one has convinced me there’s a compelling reason to change something that’s not only not broken, but has been in place during a downtown renaissance.
Consultants don't have high-tech proposal
I’ve read old newspaper files, which included this 1977 quote from Art Neuberger, then a council member and later a county commissioner:
“ ‘Twin Pairs,’ the 17th Street Bridge and Indian River Boulevard as a team will alleviate traffic congestion downtown and in the shopping center area,” he said.
Hindsight of almost 50 years shows he was right. I hope Neuberger comes to Thursday’s meeting.
Sadly, after listening to Tuesday’s council meeting, it sounds like residents will be treated to a low-budget presentation.
“It’s not that elaborate,” City Manager Monte Falls told council. “It’s not like you’re going to be walking through a 3D experience.”
Despite pleas earlier this year, the city never added barrels to the road during season to show motorists how traffic might have flowed in only two lanes. The city could have brought them in from the county project that clogged State Road 60 near 43rd Avenue for years.
And not only did consultants do traffic counts in the dead of summer, they failed to use video data visualization tools — as are used in traffic projects worldwide — to show the impact of proposed changes.
Non-traffic solutions would benefit downtown
The good news is fall has come, the Twin Pairs has become a city election issue and a final vote will not be held until December.
Still, the MPO meeting in October could be important. The MPO is made up of elected officials from the county. This is not just a city issue. Motorists from all over — tourists, a growing Fellsmere and Sebastian, Indian River Shores and the unincorporated county — will all be affected by changes to the Atlantic Ocean to Gulf of Mexico route.
On Thursday, I can’t wait to hear consultants talk about how a safe road will change when pedestrians start darting across the street from in-between parked cars. Such dangerous behavior ― like people crossing the railroad tracks — is human nature.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard from two urban consultants narrowing proponents like to quote using the term “pedestrian friendly.” To me, the most important comments both made were that local residents must decide what they want.
The consultant who helped me understand more about why I like certain downtowns was Robert Gibbs, whose mind-boggling, bullish market analysis of Vero Beach-area shopping districts included downtown, the oceanside, Three Corners and the malls.
Gibbs showed pictures of his Birmingham, Michigan, hometown, where business thrives in a well-manicured downtown with clean storefronts.
Take responsibility for what you have
“When you see a rundown trash can and broken sidewalks, (shoppers) think they’re buying junk,” Gibbs told council recently.
Just imagine what message dirty streets might send to prospective diners.
If Vero Beach wants to have a better downtown, Gibbs said, property owners need to do many of 50 best practices. The city (or a downtown agency) can help by keeping common areas clean.
Agreed. I’ve seen Vero Beach garbage cans overflow for days, sidewalks stay cracked for years and the city's fountain dirty or busted.
Pro-narrowing council members Moore and Rey Neville like to talk about how U.S. 1 works in Sebastian (with parking) and Fort Pierce.
I’ve got news for both of them. Having worked in Fort Pierce and walked frequently in Sebastian (a massively wide road with a median), I see almost no one cross those two-way streets. I suspect far more people cross the Twin Pairs, in part because the roads are one way without parking and because traffic comes in waves — good things.
In other words, I’m still waiting to be convinced eliminating 42.9% of the lanes on rapidly growing Indian River County’s main east-west road is a good idea.
Folks who want the narrowing must have the burden of proof. Those who don’t want the change should show up to the meetings or face potential disruption.
I’m not sure this issue will ever go away, but we're late in the game of the most recent championship series.
If you cannot make the meetings, please send your comments on the Twin Pairs to City Council (cityclrk@covb.org) and TCNLetters@TCPalm.com.
This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Speak now on plot to cut 3 lanes, add parking on Vero Beach main road
