Woodville Highway is a two-lane, rural highway that connects traffic from Capital Circle Southeast to inner Tallahassee. A section between Gaile Avenue and Capital Circle with a school, two neighborhoods and several businesses experiences significant congestion and has caught the eye of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). The FDOT has proposed widening the road to four lanes instead of two.
We quickly found an issue: which way should we widen the road? The FDOT had decided the road should be four lanes, but it was up to us to determine how. The St. Marks Trail beside the road didn’t allow much extra space. We couldn’t move the trail. We felt stuck with businesses on the other side of the road. What would you do if you were us? We could add two lanes toward the trail side or one lane on either side. We tried to finish a puzzle without looking at the picture on the box. We finally decided to add a lane on either side of the road.
Our widening benefits many people. The community enjoys an improved road for better traffic flow and enhanced evacuation efforts during emergencies. Social impacts remain limited. No neighborhoods were divided and the community identity remained intact. One negative impact is increased noise pollution due to greater traffic flow.
Blake Arnold, Jared Brown, Ethan Lindblad, Henry Rasmussen
O. Sean Martin, Ph.D., P.E.
H.W. Lochner, Inc. – Scott Simmons, P.E., Drew Thomas, P.E., Michael Woodard, P.E., David Noll, E.I.
Fall