Alachua County

From Facebook:

A good meeting this afternoon of the Alachua County Commission. The first topic was the letter to the FDOT re: suggestions for the proper way to deal with transportation between Tampa and Jacksonville. They are asking that first consideration be toward using 301 as the backup with improvements where needed to I-75. For a non-public hearing meeting in the small Grace Knight Conference Room, a nice turnout of residents from Micanopy to the Plum Creek border area came, listened, and several of us spoke. FDOT Transportation Planning head Jim Wood listened, kept his cards close as we knew he would, but it was good that he came to Alachua County to start to begin to understand the concerns we have. Everyone needs to study the issues, especially to find data to support the outcome you seek or this could be a long and disappointing road. Send FDOT questions and concerns, they will all be shared with the Task Force and try to remember: They want to know reasoning for why you feel as you do, not just I want clean water or I don't like noise. I'm working on traffic counts and comparative analysis with a similar situation in another state to show that things aren't so bad in Florida and we don't need to create problems. There are much easier and less expensive solutions without destroying others. Special thanks to Commissioner Byerly for holding their feet to the fire and Commissioner Cornell for always being logical and keeping things in the right perspective. All of the Commissioners are definitely tuned in to the impact that this could have. Now it's up to us to make sure they stay focused. The Beat Goes On.


"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed that is the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead, Anthropologist