There will be more crosswalks, flashing lights and pedestrian-friendly signage at several busy intersections in Town Center in addition to recent stop-sign conversions. The Palm Coast City Council is directing the city administration to implement those changes to protect P-Section pedestrians and cyclists heading to or from the popular Lehigh Trail.
“We have had an influx of residents over off of Point Pleasant in the Sabal Preserve there, and also down on Ponce de Leon near Point Pleasant,” Candace Stevens, a P-Section resident, told the council Monday evening. She was referring to two substantial new developments–a gated community on Ponce de Leon and Point Pleasant, and a large subdivision along the east end of Royal Palms Parkway called Sabal Preserve.
“It is almost impossible to get across the street to Royal Palms to enjoy Lehigh Trail, which is why I bought my house,” Stevens said. “Pony Express, Porcupine, Point Pleasant, constantly on all those streets over there, we all pretty much bought over there because we wanted to be close to the trails and we’re really unable to use them safely. It’s really, really hard to get across the street.” Stevens asked for a flashing crosswalk at Point Pleasant and Royal Palms, which has become one of the busier intersections with only a stop sign for Point Pleasant traffic heading into Royal Palms.
For pedestrians, the only way to stay on a footpath is to cross Royal Palms, the footpath being on the south side of the parkway only. Stevens suggested a crosswalk there, as well as near Imagine School at Town Center.
“Ms. Stevens is spot on for all those areas that she mentioned,” Council member Charles Gambaro said, having himself witnessed the risks along those roads. “We need to do more than just look into it. Maybe we look into it as part of our budget process.”
The crosswalk light at Town Center Boulevard and Old Kings Road was removed last weekend (or covered up) after the intersection was converted to a three-way stop, and the traffic light removed. The city’s traffic engineer told the council in April that the change would allow for smoother traffic flow. Council member Theresa Pontieri wants a safe way for pedestrians to cross at that intersection, which is immediately next to a makeshift parking area for the Lehigh Trail.
There cannot be a flashing light for pedestrians in addition to red flashing lights at intersections, Carl Cote, the city’s director of engineering, said. But non-flashing signs alerting drivers that pedestrians have the right-of-way at stop signs may be installed.
“We do have those, like on our arterials in the city,” Cote said. “We definitely can look at signage or different things we can do there to enhance the safety.”
Council members fear that the new stop signs at Royal Palms and Town Center and at Old Kings and Town Center haven’t stopped drivers from blowing through and striking a pedestrian or a cyclist.
“We have been monitoring it,” Cote said of the traffic patterns implemented over the July 4 weekend. “We have worked with the sheriff’s office in doing some additional enforcement, and just trying to make sure people are behaving properly at those stops is typical of the right turns. People aren’t coming to a complete stop all the time. But the current findings that they’ve noticed so far is that it is working as designed. It usually takes a few weeks from people driving a similar route before they really get used to the change.” There have been no crashes at the intersections, he said.
Pedestrian fatalities have been rising sharply since 2009, peaking at 7,500 across the country in 2022 before declining some since, with Florida ranking as the fifth-most dangerous states for pedestrians in fatalities per 100,000 people. The increasing number and size of large pick-up trucks and SUVs on roads is partly to blame, reversing over two decades of declining pedestrian deaths. “After analyzing federal and industry records, including never-before-examined data on vehicle dimensions, we found that the rise of large pickups and S.U.V.s is an important factor,” a team of writers reported in The New York Times in late June. “Our estimate is that about 200 to 400 pedestrians a year would not have died if vehicles had remained approximately the same size over the past quarter-century. That represents about 10 percent of the recent increase in pedestrian deaths.”
Flagler County roads have been the scene of 55 pedestrian and bicycle crashes with vehicles so far this year, with three fatalities involving pedestrians or cyclists. Last year one pedestrian was killed. The year before, five pedestrians and one cyclist lost their life in traffic crashes, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
JimboXYZ says
Might as well make Palm Coast one continuous school zone. I wonder who warned of that when Alfin was creating Alfinville with the growth that would never pay for itself ? Witht he recent pedestrian fatality on Pine Lakes Parkway. Building up the tennis center at Belle Terre & Royal Palms Parkway ? 10 gallons of poop in a 5 gallon bucket never worked out well. And it’s going to get worse for the overpopulation & lack of infrastructure. How is that Home Builder’s Assoc lawsuit coming along ? Profits over logic & safety as usual ?
Those higher impact fees for effectively doubling the population of Palm Coast aren’t going to cover the misery of Alfin’s Vision of 2050. And we’ll always have the same cast of idiots, the usual suspects that individually can’t self regulate & control their speeding & tailgating. Those new turn lanes, that just is going to encourage the big HP muscle car & pickup truck drivers to step on the gas pedal a little harder to get around the right turn motorists that the speeders & tailgaters have felt were holding them back.
End of the day, it’s not going to be much better. Anyone wanna bet that the ebike crash & fatality counts are higher for the right turn lanes as the speeder will accelerate past several right turn motorists & the ebike operator won’t be seen or can’t see to cross the street ? What are the increased offs/chances that isn’t the next tragic news story in Palm Coast (Alfinville) ?
Rwboggess says
How is anyone going to know what is going on with e-bikes? Since the ordinance has been enacted, the sheriffs’ office (and City Council after being asked in writing) has reported no citations or warnings for any e-bike ordinance violations – CONCLUSION: This was a needless ordinance that again is not being enforced by our city paid for law enforcement agency – FCSO.
Only in Palm Coast says
But wait wasn’t all this already at the intersection – oh I don’t know – BEFORE it was ‘remodeled’???? Are these morons really that MORONIC? Now – follow me here – taxpayers are paying AGAIN to set all this $hit back up again that was present just a few months ago. Unreal.
Wasred money says
Hopefully the taxpayer fountain of wealth drys up after the election in November and these morons realize that the endless spending must stop ?
James says
I went down to the tax collectors office by bicycle to (perhaps ironically) renew my tag.
Instead of crossing dangerously (and probably illegally) from the sidewalk running along Palm Coast Pkwy NE directly over both NE and SW and into the shopping plaza of which the tax collectors office is housed, I decided to do the right thing.
I proceeded further down the sidewalk to the intersection at Pine Lakes Path. To my surprise there was no immediate crosswalk across Palm Coast Pkwy, but there appeared to be one on the other side of Pine Lakes… so I cross Pine Lake Path.
This oddity of not having crosswalks in the most appropriate places at Palm Coast intersections wasn’t new to me, so I didn’t think anything of it… from the other side of Pine Lakes Path I then proceeded to cross over Palm Coast Pkwy.
But once across I finally noticed… THERE IS NO cross walk on the other side crossing over Pine Lakes Path! Perhaps understandably so, from that side of the parkway one realizes how massive and dangerous that side of the intersection is… it is in fact (at least to me) one of the most dangerous in appearance that I’ve seen… and there is no sidewalk on the other side anyway. Furthermore, seeing this too late and not continuing onward down Pine Lakes Path puts one in a dangerous situation at the corner… turning around to recross Palm Coast Pkwy.
I doubled all the way back and crossed where I originally intended… it was the less dangerous option.
How moronic one might ask is Palm Coast?
They don’t even have a way for pedestrians or bicyclists to reach the Tax Collectors office… that’s how moronic it is!
Just another opinion.
James says
I’d just like to add that although it’s good that the city council is taking an interest in pedestrian safety by focusing on this problem area near Town Center, hopefully it will inspire them to tackle the dangerous intersection problems throughout the city that have long existed and have never been addressed.
Just say’n… doubtful.
Jay Tomm says
Those 3 way stops they just put in are just stupid!