How to help redevelop 14th Street West in Bradenton? One idea is to change the street
The key to successfully redeveloping 14th Street West in Bradenton could be to cut the road down to just two lanes, according to a planning consultant.
The city of Bradenton already offers incentives for redevelopment in that area, but the missing piece is a street that’s attractive to visitors, said Jonathan Paul, a hired consultant with Nue Urban Concepts.
“If you’re trying to encourage redevelopment, a four-lane highway is absolutely the worst thing to have in that area,” Paul explained.
Using a conceptual design image, Paul demonstrated that 14th Street could become a haven for all kinds of visitors if the city adjusts the road to one northbound lane and one southbound lane, with added bike paths, an expanded sidewalk and center medians featuring large plants and trees.
The city has no plans to move forward with the idea. Because the design is just a concept, officials did not vote to take any action at a recent workshop meeting.
Reducing lanes on busy roads in exchange for “placemaking” improvements is a nationwide trend, according to Paul. In Florida alone, he cited examples in Orlando, Gainesville and Delray Beach. A similar transformation nearly took place on Fruitville Road in the city of Sarasota where officials last spring considered a reduction in lanes between Orange Avenue and U.S. 41, according to ABC7 Sarasota.
“What every single local government in Florida — and across the country — is realizing now is that if you want people to come for the purpose of coming to a destination, you make it an attractive place for them to come,” Paul said.
“What they found is that everywhere they do these streetscapes, it encourages redevelopment,” he added.
Councilman Gene Gallo, however, wasn’t convinced. He argued that traffic flow in Bradenton is crucial, and reducing the lanes would only cause more congestion.
“What you said absolutely makes opposite sense to me,” Gallo said. “We have a traffic issue now, and you say if we want to develop more on 14th Street now that we have to go to two lanes, which is putting more people, more cars on 14th Street with less place to drive.”
But at least one elected official was willing to consider the idea. Councilman Patrick Roff pointed out that the four lanes they have now aren’t working.
“We’ve got four lanes crammed into not enough room to where there’s barely room to drive down that road. When you do this, it does work,” Roff said. “To be honest, Gene, it’s scary to me, but this is how you redevelop an area.”
The concept would slow down traffic along the corridor, hypothetically encouraging drivers to visit local businesses. The expanded sidewalk and bike system would encourage multi-modal travel, as well, increasing the number of people who actually use the street as a route to get around Bradenton.
“Believe it or not, paths and trails and sidewalks can move a lot more people than cars can,” Paul said.
In an interview with the Bradenton Herald, Robert Williams, owner of Willy-Yums, 2003 14th St. W., said a re-designed 14th Street would be a welcome change.
“Anything to bring Manatee County and Bradenton to be more open to the public and give people a place to be outside and use public roads to get here and there, I’m actually excited about it,” said Williams.
“I think you build it and they will come,” he added. “It gives people more of an opportunity to have a safer area to walk and ride your bike.”
The 14th Street concept comes down to Bradenton officials determining the road’s purpose — whether the street should be used for moving cars or attracting people. Paul also advocated for a new mobility fee that would have new developments in the city pay toward sidewalk and bike path improvements.
