FDOT ready to install new crosswalk at ‘the point’
By Susanna P. Barton
Resident Community News
The Florida Department of Transportation will install a new, much anticipated pedestrian crosswalk this month at “the point”—the dodgy southern intersection of old San Jose Boulevard and Hendricks Avenue at Southside United Methodist Church.
FDOT officials said they will be issuing a work order to upgrade the pedestrian crosswalk signing and pavement markings. They anticipated the work to be complete within nine weeks of mid-March.
Spokesman Mike Goldman shared an overhead view of the crossing with more specifics of the crossing upgrade. Some of the most visual elements of the plan will be the new fluorescent yellow pedestrian crossing signs with downward pointing arrows. The first pair of signs will be placed where cars begin to veer off Hendricks Avenue to the right onto San Jose Boulevard. Another pair of signs will flank the newly striped crossing. Additionally, two more bright yellow signs will indicate it is “the state law to stop” when pedestrians are in the crosswalk.
The crossing will be hard to miss. That’s just what representatives from San Marco Preservation Society (SMPS) were hoping for when they approached FDOT about the idea late last year. Valerie Feinberg, an SMPS leader and local mother who has been involved in the neighborhood’s Safe Routes to School initiatives, helped lead the charge. Her son’s bike was struck by car in the crosswalk last year. While unhurt, her son and his experience helped bring the danger home.
District 5 City Councilwoman Lori Boyer said there is some discussion about installing a similar crossing at the south end of old San Jose Boulevard where the road feeds into State Road 13 (or San Jose Boulevard). Like the northern crossing, the southern crossing—near Watson Martial Arts—also is difficult for pedestrians and bicyclists to pass.
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