Traffic Advisory: Patricia Avenue Closes Wednesday

A popular traffic cut-through to Dunedin High School permanently shuts down Wednesday, March 23.

The City of Dunedin permanently closes Patricia Avenue, just south of McLean Street at 8 a.m. The controversial road closure is expected to significantly alter traffic patterns in the area.

Proponents hope that closing Patricia Avenue will eliminate the large volume of chronic morning and afternoon speeders who use it and nearby McLean Street and Jackmar and Robmar roads as a cut-through for .

Jackmar, Robmar and McLean are each equipped with three speed humps, which were put in place as a reaction to cut-through speeders after Patricia Avenue was originally opened around 1994.

“At the time [Patricia was opened] … there was actually — I think the staffing said 9-7 against having it open … and we’ve been having this cut-through problem ever since. …,” said Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski at a Feb. 17 City Commission meeting. “Yeah, I think these people have had enough. I’m ready to close the street,”

Traffic Engineer Joan Rice’s original proposal suggested an interim phase: move one hump from each of the three effected streets to the portion of Patricia Avenue between Mclean Street and San Salvador Drive. If that measure didn’t slow drivers down, she suggested then closing Patricia. The City Commission disagreed, except for Mayor Dave Eggers.

“When we put the speed bumps up it created some issues. There was a reaction to that — people avoiding those streets … just trying to avoid the speed bumps,” said Eggers during the Feb. 17 meeting. “… One of the things we’ve created here is an unintended consequence … By just closing it off, we’re just going to shift everything off to where it was 15, 16, 17 years ago, and, again, it’s just another reaction that we’re going to have to deal with, and we’re gonna have other unintended consequences.”

The decision to close the street stems from a year-and-a-half-long city and neighborhood debate on how to reduce speeding in residential areas.

The City Commission voted 4-1 to close Patricia Avenue.