ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A new intersection layout is proposed at the western base of the Bridge of Lions.
The proposal has now been revamped after people turned up their noses at the first draft.
Monday, St. Augustine Assistant City Manager Reuben Franklin told city commissioners, "We’ve been looking at this for a long time."
Franklin provided the St. Augustine City Commission a look the Florida Department of Transportation's latest concept of the intersection revamp.
Last year, the FDOT designed a plan to move traffic more smoothly through the intersection. The city and DOT heard from the public who were critical of portions of the plan.
Franklin said, "One of the things that we heard was, 'It’s not symmetrical. There’s just too many movements going on.' So we asked them (FDOT) to make it more symmetrical and kind of soften the concept. Which led us to this concert here."
The latest changes also included pedestrian crossings by the lions statues and more green space.
The DOT said the last plan would move traffic more quickly through the intersection, cutting the time to get through it in half.
The new plan would not longer have "a through lane coming strait down Cathedral Place," Franklin explained.
Cathedral Place would also become a one-lane road instead of what it is now, a two-lane road.
City Commissioner Roxanne Horvath commented on the new plan, saying, "I think this is a tremendous help to our citizens."
Most city commissioners liked it. However, some had concerns and questions about additions.
City Commissioner Jim Springfield said, "This is going to make it even better for me to go through downtown. I really believe this will increase the number of cars." He added, "so I’m a little concerned about the number of cars being increased."
City Commissioner Barbara Blonder commented on the lack of bicycle lanes, "I’d like to go back with this basic design and see if there’s a way to engineer some bike lanes in."
With this concept, 20 parking spaces could be lost as well. But the commission wants to widen the sidewalk and open the view of the pizza.
The city commissioners voted to send this plan back to the DOT, saying they like it and asked for a couple of changes.