Island residents won a major victory last week when Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced it has dramatically scaled back the length of a south island sidewalk project that homeowners and HOAs had opposed.

Under the original plan, a wide, concrete sidewalk would have built on the east side of A1A along the entire 5.6-mile stretch of state highway between the 17th Street bridge and the St. Lucie County line.

Residents said the sidewalk was redundant, a waste of money – there is already a sidewalk on the west side of the highway – might worsen flooding problems and would mean cutting down prized live oak trees and other landscaping. They said more stringent enforcement of the road’s 45-miles-per-hour speed limit would be the best way to ensure safety for all, including pedestrians.

Under the revised FDOT plan, the new sidewalk on the east side of A1A has been scaled back to two small sections – a 0.7-mile stretch from the 17th Street bridge to Castaway Boulevard and a 675-foot segment in front of the St. Edward’s private school.

Steven Braun, the Secretary of FDOT’s District 4 which is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and includes Indian River County, said the 0.7 miles of sidewalk close to the 17th Street bridge covers “the more populated segment of the project,” while the piece of sidewalk in front of the St. Ed’s school will “allow students in the adjacent community to travel safely to and from school at the school traffic signal.”

Braun said the scaled-back changes were based on the loud objections of south island residents, which he termed “community feedback received.”

The new sidewalk sections are part of a larger plan to repave and upgrade A1A along the 5.7-mile stretch. Part of the “roadway restoration, resurfacing and rehabilitation project” includes repairing broken sections of the existing concrete sidewalk on the west side of the highway. The purpose of the project is to “extend the service life of the highway and enhance highway safety.”

FDOT Design Engineer John Olson said the change in plans will reduce the project’s original $10.8 million price tag, but probably “not dramatically.” While the much shorter sidewalk will cost less, a signalized crosswalk for pedestrian safety will be added and those additional costs will eat up some of the savings.

The original plan called for construction to start in the spring of next year and last until the summer of 2029, but “revisions to the plan are likely to delay the projected start and end of construction by a few months,” Olson said, adding that FDOT is still investigating a revised schedule and no contractor has yet been chosen.

The revised project includes drainage improvements, since part of the roadway tends to flood during and after the heavy rains that regularly drench the island in the rainy season.

The new repaved roadway will include clearly marked bicycle paths on both sides of the road that are 6 feet wide, instead of the standard 7 feet for bicycle paths on state roads.

Cycling enthusiasts had pleaded for 7 feet, but FDOT said there was no room for the extra foot without widening the whole roadway, which would be prohibitively expensive.

Cyclists did win one major victory – FDOT has agreed to eliminate rumble strips meant to warn motorists that they are drifting into bike lanes. Cyclists say the rumble strips do more harm than good and are dangerous to bikers.

In announcing the scaled-back sidewalk plans last Monday, April 6, FDOT noted several public meetings held with residents over the past year as well as meetings with homeowners associations in the area.

“Community feedback is at the core of all we do,” Braun said in his announcement. “FDOT works with the public to balance their community vision with the community’s transportation needs.”