Public input sought on ways to ease congestion on U.S. 1 in Stuart/northern Martin County

STUART — U.S. 1 traffic in northern Martin County has the attention of transportation officials.

So much so that they held an open house Thursday to gather public feedback on how to alleviate it. Officials are focusing on the stretch of U.S. 1 from the south end of the Roosevelt Bridge to the St. Lucie County line.

Except for Interstate 95, that 4.8-mile stretch has the highest traffic volume in Martin County.

"All the other counties have two or three north-south roads," said Glenn Scheiner, a Stuart resident who has lived in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties, too.

Martin County, he said, needs more north-south roads.

Seeking public input

Thursday's open house was the first meeting the Martin Metropolitan Planning Organization, the county's transportation-planning agency, held to gather input from the public on the traffic issue.

"We want to hear from the people who are out there driving," Beth Beltran, administrator for the Martin Metropolitan Planning Organization, told those gathered at the meeting.

On average, 47,000-63,000 vehicles a day travel the corridor. The speed limit is 45 mph.

Looking for alternatives

"We do not believe widening the corridor is feasible," Stewart Robertson, an engineer with Kimley-Horn and Associates, told people at the meeting. Kimley-Horn was hired by the Martin Metropolitan Planning Organization as a consultant on the project.

The county is looking for alternatives such as improving access to public transit, creating opportunities to walk and bike and perhaps connecting residential and commercial developments so drivers can go between them without getting on U.S. 1.

The "crosswalks I just think of as death traps," said Jensen Beach resident Paul Birdsall, citing the "intensity of traffic."

Challenges

The challenges to making improvements include continued residential and commercial development, a highway that is hard to walk along or bike in and strip malls and residential developments whose only access is U.S. 1.

"It's a vehicle-dependent environment," Robertson said.

Next steps

The agency's next step is interviewing business owners along the corridor.

Then data and public input will be analyzed, followed by another meeting planned for September, when the MPO hopes to present alternatives for alleviating the congestion and enhancing safety.

Safety was talked about a little at the meeting, and people were asked a few questions about it. Forty-seven percent said they feel unsafe sometimes when traveling the corridor.

Sixty percent reported nearly being in a crash on the corridor, and 43% said the corridor needs more lighting.

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Time and date of the September meeting have yet to be set, but officials are planning to hold it in Jensen Beach.

People unable to attend the Thursday open house can provide feedback by scanning a QR code on the Martin Metropolitan Planning Organization website — https://martinmpo.com — and/or can send comments to consultant Bonnie Landry — bonnie@bclandry.com.

Keith Burbank is TCPalm's watchdog reporter covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com or at 720-288-6882.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Officials looking to ease traffic on U.S. 1 in northern Martin County