According to former Sarasota City Manager David Sollenberger (1987-2001), our motto “Where urban amenities meet small town living” was coined in the mid-1990s. I hear versions of the phrase repeated around town, often in the context of managing growth and traffic.  

Today our small town is approaching about 55,000 full-time residents who reside on 15 square miles of land adjacent to 10 square miles of bay and Gulf beaches. In planning terms, mostly due to density, commerce and our urban amenities, we are said to be the principal city in a metropolitan region of approximately 750,000. As a region, that is comparable in population to Portland, Boston and Seattle, albeit a bit more spread out.

As the demographic wave of Baby Boomers and Millennials continue to migrate to the region, the City Commission, staff and community continue to explore options to best move cars and people.  

When it comes to moving cars, we have plenty of data on traffic and roads. The main challenge and frustration with traffic is peak-hour congestion. Peak-hour traffic impacts our streets about four hours out of a 24-hour day or about 15 percent of the time.

We are working with our partners in high-tech traffic management to better time our traffic control signals when it will help. Turn lanes will be added where deemed helpful. Our first two in a necklace of 11 roundabouts on US 41 will begin installation in 2017-18 at 10th and 14th Streets.   

One of the newer influences impacting our love and dependency on the automobile is climate change, which has emerged as a public concern. On a related note, the joys and efficiencies of city living have been rediscovered. In response, engaged communities have begun to focus attention on walkability scores, transit scores, bikeability and lowering carbon emissions.    

Although our walkability score for downtown is 87 and Laurel Park, Gillespie and Rosemary neighborhoods have above-average scores, our overall community walkability score is 49—not as healthy as it should or could be. Our transit score is 34. This relatively low score means potential SCAT bus riders who could choose transit over a car generally will not.  

Our scores confirm that overall we are still an auto-dependent community. But the good news is that there's lots of room for improvement to lessen our auto dependence by improving walking, biking and transit options to the standards that people will choose to use. Pursuing this strategy will lessen the pressure on roads, the family auto budget and the environment.

So here is a summary of what the city has been up to on the very important mobility front:

• The City Commission amended our code to change from collecting road impact fees from developments, which had to be spent on bigger roads, to mobility fees, which provide new options for moving people.

• Staff is preparing a request for proposals to implement downtown shuttles, which will utilize uber-like technology, small electric vehicles and flexible routes to move people around within the entire downtown district beginning this fall.

• We are investigating the pros, cons and costs of a temporary pedestrian walkway over US 41 at First Street during the Gulfstream roundabout construction period.

• FDOT will install a dedicated right-turn lane on Northbound US 41 to eastbound Fruitville Road this summer.

• We are drafting a request for proposals for backbone transit planning from the SRQ Airport/University District to downtown and the Medical District, with shuttles to the beaches.  

• A second component of the above will be a transit related, city-to-city dialogue, with our colleagues in the City of Bradenton, Venice and North Port to explore clean, fast and affordable transit between our growing cities.

• We are adding sitting benches and widening sidewalks whenever possible to encourage healthy walking.

• The City Commission will be considering an updated bicycle route plan this summer.

• We are preparing to intensify the push to finish the incredible legacy trail bike path into Payne Park and downtown, connecting us to our treasured sister community of Venice via a 30-mile protected, scenic bike trail.

• Water taxis continue to be explored by Longboat Key and Sarasota.

It may be time for Sarasota and our region to boldly enhance our urban mobility amenities. We are actively looking around the world for the best solutions to move people about in fun, interesting, reliable and cost-efficient ways. We know many of our residents are from other places and travel the globe. We welcome learning about anything anyone has seen or researched that might work here.   

Thank you for your time, and forward any thoughts you may have on this or related subjects to: thomas.barwin@sarasotagov.com.

Tom Barwin is city manager for the City of Sarasota.