If you think that the work on Key West's streets never ends, it's not your imagination. Years of watching the undoing and redoing of roadwork has convinced me that the completion of projects must not be the goal— or it would happen more often. While work like the replacement of sewer and water pipes is essential, there has also been a lot of repetitious, expensive and unnecessary roadwork. And a little planning could still save Key West residents money and aggravation.
The problem is that city projects too often take place with no thought of coordination or consequences. Consider the road repaving following the completion of sewer work in my neighborhood. After the repaving, I noticed that the curbstones had disappeared — because the street level at the intersection where I live was now even with the sidewalk.
Roads and sidewalks are constructed at different heights to allow stormwater to run along the edge of the road to a storm drain. When I saw the heightened road level I knew that my house and every building on the intersection would be flooded the next time it rained. So I dug a small trench in the asphalt on my corner, to contain and direct the water as the old curb had. I called the sewer work headquarters to let them know what I had done, and one of the sewer project's heads quickly arrived on the scene. He agreed that the trench would help prevent the corner from being flooded. He also frankly admitted that the city didn't have the money budgeted to do the job right, and that their job was to pave the road, not worry about flooding. The trench, and another across the way dug by a neighbor, remain.
This "road improvement" has also had an impact on parking. In an effort to provide more parking, the city has painted five spaces in front of my house, where previously there had been four. This was accomplished, of course, by reducing the size of each parking space.
Unfortunately, the smaller spaces are too short, making it impossible for people without mini or compact cars to get into them. And the city is making some intersections more dangerous by placing parking spaces too close to the corners, reducing already obstructed lines of sight.
Everyone who drives the streets of Old Town avoids certain treacherous intersections, usually because they've seen accidents there or had one themselves. Drivers on William Street who turn either way onto United Street are performing an enormous act of faith. On White Street, a dumpster has blocked the view of drivers coming in via Fleming Street for months.
And further up on White Street, drivers entering from Olivia Street take their lives in their hands. I've had personal experience with this kind of hazard: my car was hit by someone whose line of sight was blocked by a huge dumpster that had been on the street for ages.
Our dangerous mix of incompatible vehicles adds to the problem. Consider tragedies like the recent deaths of the scooter rider killed at the corner Simonton and Greene Streets, and the bicyclist killed at the corner of Eaton and Grinnell Streets.
When you see how bicycle and scooter riders must share a roadway with semi trucks and 50-foot tour busses, you don't need to be a traffic expert to know that accidents are inevitable.
There are some city employees pushing for the action necessary to make our streets safer. But they are for the most part ignored or overruled by higher-ups. How many pedestrian, bicyclist and scooter rider deaths or serious injuries will it take, before the safety of residents and visitors becomes the city's highest priority?