In April, the St. Petersburg City Council approved funding for a bike share program in its downtown area. The program will launch in September with the roll out of 30 stations and 300 GPS-enabled smart bikes. Now the City needs to figure out where to locate the stations and they’re looking to the locals for…
The role of transportation and land development in Pinellas County took on increased importance with passage of a special act of the Florida Legislature in 2014 unifying a 13-member governing board of local elected officials with responsibility for countywide transportation and land use planning. Pinellas remains Florida’s most densely developed county with nearly one million residents…
In 2012, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) informed the MPO that bids on projects around the state were coming in lower than expected and that FDOT had extra (that’s right-extra!) money for transportation projects. Turns out, they had just about enough to fund improvements to Gandy Boulevard from 4th Street North to 16th Street…
By Sue Miller, MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner The Pinellas Trail welcomes bicyclists, walkers, skateboarders, dog-walkers, strollers, inline skaters, and strollers. It brings together residents, tourists, seasonal visitors, the young, old, bird-watchers, training athletes, elementary students, retired engineers, grandmothers, and nature-lovers. On Saturday, December 5, 2015, this very trail will celebrate its Silver 25th Anniversary…
The week of Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time of the year. The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimates that 46.9 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles from home this Thanksgiving weekend, driving to each other’s homes, or to the airport, to visit friends and family for the holiday. Living in St. Petersburg, I…
A recent Tampa Bay Times story described St. Petersburg’s pursuit of a bike share program intended to expand accessibility throughout the city’s commercial core. Could the rest of Pinellas County follow suit? Imagine if you didn’t have to drive to your next lunch meeting with clients, or drive downtown for coffee with your wife on…
If we’re going to adapt our land use and transportation planning to a new reality, we’re going to need to rethink access in Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay region. Our automobile-oriented culture is undergoing changes from demographics, market trends, technology and public preferences. Those changes favor seamless travel experiences that connect people to places where we…
Floridians love this time of year. Fall is in the air as the weather cools a bit, pumpkin spice lattes can be found in our coffee shops, outdoor dining is more popular, rain showers are less frequent, we take our kids trick-or-treating on Halloween, and we get an extra hour of sleep as daylight saving…
When I started out as a newbie to the Pinellas Planning Council (PPC) and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), I continually heard the term “Complete Streets.” After I began to research the term and inquire about it, I was intrigued with what I learned. Complete Streets is a transportation policy and design approach that requires streets to enable…
During Wednesday’s PPC/MPO Board meeting, the Board recognized October as Community Planning Month. The American Planning Association (APA) designated October as National Community Planning Month to highlight the role of planners and planning in communities. This year’s theme is the role planning plays in creating healthy communities. Throughout the United States and its territories, communities…
I am a millennial. One of the 73 million born roughly between 1982 and 2001 that makes up a quarter of the population in the U.S. and the largest generation of its workforce. We are creative, multi-tasking, tech-savvy souls who love our social media. We also like living in walkable urban environments with a sense of place. When…