Comments on suggested benefits of UF right-of-way donation

The SW 20th Avenue Charette proposed a two-lane extension of SW 24th Avenue with an alignment on the southern border of campus and did not indicate whether the right-of-way would come from the UF campus, from private land immediately south of campus, or from both. The MTPO's current proposal is for a four-lane extension of SW 24th Avenue with the entire right-of-way being donated by UF. The county has no money to build either road in the near future and a four-lane road has not been justified by either of the two most recent traffic studies. Therefore, UF administrators need not only to justify donating land for an extension of SW 24th Avenue; they must justify donating enough for a four-lane road and doing it prior to traffic studies that indicate that a four-lane road is needed.

Thus far the Natural Area Advisory Committee has only two documents in which UF administrators indicate what they believe would be the benefits of donating land for a four-lane road through NATL. These two documents are accessible through links below.-- T. J. Walker, Chair, Natural Area Advisory Committee (7 April 2003)

President Young's letter

On 25 March 2003, President Young sent a letter to County Commission Chairman Rodney Long, to be read into the official record of the County Commission's hearing on SW 24th Avenue. At that meeting the Commission voted 3 to 2 to cease spending money on the construction of a two-lane 24th Avenue east of SW 34th Street and to begin spending money on a four-lane 24th Avenue that requires an extension of 24th Avenue east of SW 34th Street. In his letter, President Young indicates that UF's contribution of the right-of-way to extend SW 24th Avenue to Archer Road will--

  1. "support the sustainable growth of Gainesville and Alachua County"
  2. "encourage the student village concept as envisioned in the SW 20th charette"
  3. "continue to foster good mass transit"
  4. "support Plan East Gainesville"
  5. "provide the protection that we must afford our traditional neighborhoods that surround the University of Florida."


(1) "support the sustainable growth of Gainesville and Alachua County"

Growth will more likely be sustainable if roads are built to support a thoroughly vetted, long-range plan rather than to make possible a proposed large-scale commercial development that has not gone through the Development of Regional Impact process. The events and procedures that resulted in the switch from two lanes to four lanes for SW 24th Avenue speak for themselves.

(2) "encourage the student village concept as envisioned in the SW 20th charette"

The student village concept envisioned in the SW 20th Ave Charette was to have a grid of pedestrian- and bike-friendly two-lane roads. Four-lane roads are friendly to neither pedestrians or bicycles. The two-lane concept was part of the Gainesville urban area's Long Range Transportation Plan and was supported by Alachua County, the University of Florida, and the Metropolitan Transportation Organization until a change was initiated by Butler Enterprises in December 2002.

(3) "continue to foster good mass transit"

Whether a road is two lanes or four lanes, when buses stop in a traffic lane to load or unload passengers, traffic flow is disrupted. Bus bays (where buses can pull out of traffic at bus stops) alleviate this problem. The design for a two-lane 24th Avenue (90% completed at a cost to Alachua County of $500,000) included bus bays.

(4) "support Plan East Gainesville"

The Transportation Element of Plan East Gainesville makes no mention of roads in west Gainesville. The closest it comes to that is to recommend establishing "premium transit service" linking east Gainesville with "key employment and commercial centers."

(5) "provide the protection that we must afford our traditional neighborhoods that surround the University of Florida."

If student-oriented apartments rather than big-box stores are built in the area proposed for Butler Plaza North, more students can live within easy biking or walking distance of the University of Florida. These students will not impact established neighborhoods. (See County Commissioner Byerly's "Speaking Out" piece.)


Vice-President Poppell's letter
On 24 March 2003, in response to a request that he provide the Natural Area Advisory Committee a summary of the benefits that the proposed donation of right-of-way would have for the University of Florida, Vice-President Poppell sent a three-page letter by e-mail. One must read the letter to get a full understanding of the benefits Poppell describes. Therefore, the source paragraph of each benefit is given.

(1) A four-lane SW 24th Avenue is the only cost feasible way to add needed additional east-west lanes to the SW 20th Avenue Charrette area. (page 1, third paragraph)

All additional lanes are not equal when it comes to the SW 20th Charrette area. Two more lanes for SW 24th Avenue have been proposed because they support a doubling of commercial space in the area. According to one analysis the additional capacity generated by the two addition lanes on SW 24th will be completely used by new traffic the commercial space will generate. Thus these two additional lanes are unlikely to alleviate traffic congestion in the Charrette area.

(2) A four-lane SW 24th Avenue will encourage high density and infill and will discourage urban sprawl. (page 2, first paragraph)

A four-lane SW 24th Avenue will encourage infill with commercial development. A two-lane SW 24th Avenue is consistent with the SW 20th Avenue Charrettee and its student village concept, which proposes infill with student-oriented housing. (For more, see Commissioner Byerly's Speaking Out piece.)

(3) A four-lane SW 24th Avenue can become part of an "east/west road connector," a need identified in Plan East Gainesville. (page 2, second paragraph)

The Transportation Element of Plan East Gainesville makes no mention of an "east/west road connector." The closest it comes to that is to recommend establishing "premium transit service" linking east Gainesville with "key employment and commercial centers."

(4) The SW 24th Avenue extension to Archer Road is needed to accommodate RTS buses traveling between east and west, and it must be four-lanes because frequent stops of buses on two-lane roads create frustrations for motorists. (page 2, second paragraph)

Bus bays will work on both two-lane and four-lane roades to relieve the frustrations of motorists who must otherwise stop while buses load and unload.

(5) A four-lane SW 24th Avenue will further the student village concept [of the SW 20th Ave. Charrette], thereby relieving the pressure on Gainesville's older and traditional neighborhoods. (page 2, third paragraph)

The student village concept envisioned in the SW 20th Ave Charette was to have a grid of pedestrian- and bike-friendly two-lane roads. Four-lane roads are friendly to neither pedestrians or bicycles. The two-lane concept was part of the Gainesville urban area's Long Range Transportation Plan and was supported by Alachua County, the University of Florida, and the Metropolitan Transportation Organization until a change was initiated by Butler Enterprises in December 2002.

(6) A four-lane SW 24th Avenue will help cure failures in the current road system and provide the road infrastructure to support growth and mass transit. (page 3, first paragraph)

Traffic studies have yet to show that a four-lane SW 24th Avenue will cure the acknowledged failures in the road system in the SW 20th Ave Charrette area.