Roads are important for our daily lives. They provide us with a means to travel, connecting us to work, school, shopping centers and other landmarks. Without roads, we would struggle to arrive safely from one place to another. Eventually, older roads need improvement as they age. Levy Avenue is one such road. It spans between East Paul Dirac Drive and Lake Bradford Road in Tallahassee. We aimed to restore Levy Avenue into a more neighborhood-friendly street.
Levy Avenue was a safety hazard for student drivers and residents. Visitors had no safe parking options and the road created high crash risks for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. To address these concerns, we focused mainly on improving neighborhood safety and aiming to improve traffic within Innovation Park.
The redesign of Levy Avenue included multiple improvements. We restored the pavement, remarked lanes and removed bicycle lanes to add a grassy median. Removing the bicycle lanes for the median slowed traffic to safer speeds that met Florida Department of Transportation standards.
We addressed additional safety concerns to ensure our redesign efficiently accomplished its goal. We considered adding evenly spaced speed bumps, more crosswalks and necessary signage. We also modified the median into properly spaced sections to allow right-of-way traffic to merge safely and help pedestrians travel easily.
Gabriel Closson, Veronica Emata, Maria Selinger, Sean Serrano
O. Sean Martin, Ph.D., P.E., Gideon Nnaji, Ph.D., Kamal Tawfiq, Ph.D., P.E., FASCE
Melissa L. Pennington, P.E., Bryant King, Vice President
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