That, of course, will bring more traffic on our streets. Congestion on our roadways has been a major issue facing our city. The City Commission recently signed an agreement that we hope will herald some relief.
We’ve decided to partner directly with the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization. This high-level collaboration should allow us to better plan major projects to relieve congestion, expedite them to completion and better leverage local, state and federal assistance.
For those who don’t know, the MPO is the regional transportation planning organization. Fort Lauderdale already has seats at the table on making regional policy decisions on transportation. However, this partnership takes it to another level – linking the MPO directly into the city’s transportation planning.
The fact of the matter is that Broward County’s transportation network is extremely complex. Fort Lauderdale’s traffic is heavily influenced by the daytime influx of commuters from the western suburbs. Then, there is our tourist traffic and the traffic from our own growing population.
Issues that should be simple fixes are not. For instance, everyone favors synchronizing traffic lights, yet that is under the control of the county government. Also, most major roads are under the jurisdiction of the county or state.
So, the city is left to lobby as hard as possible for the interests of our residents. As the city manager has acknowledged, Fort Lauderdale has struggled with balancing resources, fulfilling priorities, maximizing funding and communicating with other governments when it comes to transportation.
We believe the MPO deal will bring their expert knowledge to help us find the best solutions for our city. At the same time, we will not lose the local services of the city’s Transportation & Mobility Department that neighborhoods expect.
Traffic engineering will be handled by the city. Review of development plans and parking requirements will also continue to be done by the city. City staff will also prioritize projects and act as the neighborhood liaison.
Under the agreement, the MPO will dedicate a transportation planner for each commission district. Their unique expertise in planning, programming and coordination will help ensure our decisions regarding transportation are as effective and efficient as possible. One example is that they can help us leverage the new county transportation surtax as much as possible.
We have already seen the creativity of the MPO.
When the city canceled the Wave streetcar project, it was the MPO that suggested creating a transit loop around downtown with a dedicated lane for rapid-transit vehicles through a one-way pairing of North Andrews Avenue and Northeast 3
rd
Avenue.
The MPO arrangement has worked well in other parts of the country, but it is rather novel locally. We anticipate great results, but we also can back out of the contract at any time if we find it is not working.
Scooters
City staff is finalizing new regulations that should bring more consistency and safety to the use of scooters in Fort Lauderdale.
More than 1 million rides have occurred since the city allowed scooters on our streets a year ago. That’s a lot of people who like their availability, but still their use has also created hazards for pedestrians and cars. The City Commission has wanted to better integrate scooters to resolve these problems.
The regulations would permanently restrict their use on the barrier island as well as other areas where many pedestrians walk such as Las Olas Boulevard and Riverwalk.
New recommendations being considered include reducing the number of operators and fleet sizes, limiting speed, implementing corrals where scooters are parked, requiring operators to address issues quicker, and implementing a new permit application process.
Technology would be tapped to improve the scooter program. Geofencing would be used to impose the restrictions on where scooters may operate. A photo ID would need to be scanned into a smartphone app in order to verify the user is at least 18 years old.
Higher fees would be charged to cover the city’s cost of administering the program.
Our goal is to have a community where scooters can co-exist with pedestrians and cars. When we enact these regulations, we will take a major step in that direction.
In closing, I wish everyone a happy holiday season. Please partake of the city’s various festivities from our holiday lighting events to our New Year’s Eve Downtown Countdown.
Sincerely,
Dean
