Bill Skelton - Polk County - Safer Crossing at Davenport School

School opens Friday (11th) in Polk County. Students walking to Davenport High School and Davenport School of the Arts now have a safter crosswalk thanks to efforts by Polk County, several agencies, and Duke Energy. We speak with Bill Skelton of Polk County Roads and Drainage.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Gordenberg here with Beyond the News.School is opening Friday in Polk County,
and students who walk to Davenport HighSchool and Davenport School of the Arts have
more safety enhancements on their way toschool. Polk County has been installing new
equipment at a crosswalk nearby. BillSkelton with Polk County Roads in Drainage Division,

(00:21):
He's project management liaison, joins uson Beyond the News. Bill Skelton,
welcome, Thank you, Gordon.Happy to be here now. First,
these moves follow a tragic accident earlierthis year that happened on a morning
back in February. And it's unfortunatethat often these things are produced as the

(00:44):
result of tragedies. Yeah, that'sthat's right. There was a fifteen year
old student that was critically injured whenstruck by a truck when attempting to cross
five forty seven to get to theDavenports School of the Arts. And you're
right. Oftentimes, you know,these these improvements are born out of tragedy.
It's unfortunate that that had to occur, but certainly there's that public expectation

(01:10):
that something should be done, andin this instance, we were able to
quickly partner with the Polk County PublicSchools also known as the school Board,
Duke Energy, our traffic, engineeringand operations staff, and we fast tracked
some improvements out there that should providea safer walking environment for students attending class

(01:30):
like you mentioned starting the end ofthis week. Now you have a crosswalk
there near the school and you're installingsome enhancement there. Tell us about that.
That's correct. Now the crosswalk,pardon me, The crosswalk where the
student was struck is on the northend of the Davenport School of the Arts
campus. We recently installed a newcrosswalk that's at a signalized intersection that Polk

(01:57):
County installed at the Davenport High Schoolback in twenty twenty two. So we've
got a new painted crosswalk. It'swhat we refer to as thermoplastic, that's
the reflective variety of painting. We'vegot two push button activated pedestrian beacons,
and of course we have our schoolzone signage. Also, Duke Energy was

(02:22):
was kind enough to expedite some lightinginstallations along the frontages there at both the
Davenport High School and the Davenport Schoolof the Arts to include the crosswalk where
the student was struck, that wasunlit at the time. And as you
mentioned, you've been doing a lotof work on the traffic signals at the

(02:43):
school entrance as well. Right,that was a new installation, like I
said, back in twenty twenty two, and I suspect, you know,
they've coordinated the timings of that intersectionmaybe to allow a longer period for pedestrians
across, but that what we've donerecently kind of goes hand in hand with
the stopping condition that the traffic signalprovides there. At it's actually a shared

(03:07):
entrance road between the school, soit's centrally located. It does service both
schools, and it provides a bettersafer crossing opportunity for students that attend again
both Davenport High School and the Schoolof the Arts. Now, that particular
stretch of five forty seven or Lakeor Lee Jackson Highway in Davenport seems kind

(03:29):
of bucolic and quiet, but it'sright at the center of a region that
is growing and has a lot oftraffic concerns and infrastructure concerns that hold Davenport
Poor Corners Poinciana region, all ofnortheast Polk County really is seeing incredible growth,
and I'm sure that your office isexpecting more projects in that region as

(03:53):
Polk County continues to grow. Undoubtedly. Yeah, that formerly was kind of
a one of the rural areas inPolk County, but it's it's quickly urbanizing
with the rest of northeast Polk County. Road five forty seven Lee Jackson Highway,

(04:13):
I would say probably currently has somewherearound eight thousand to ten thousand trips
per day, so it is aheavily traveled road. Like much of Polk
County, there's a lot of trucktraffic as well. There's a lot of
distribution, warehousing and logistics nearby,and of course as the population grows,
you know, those logistics concerns.You know, serves a growing local population

(04:38):
as well as transporting you know,goods elsewhere and outside of Polk County.
Particularly, this location is isn't closeto what we refer to as the four
Corners area where several you know,counties come together. So I'm happy to
report we also have some new additionalsidewalk installations programmed for County Road forty seven

(05:02):
that will tie into the existing sidewalknetwork that accesses the school. I happen
to run the Polk County Sidewalk AdvisoryCommittee and just in July they prioritize funding
in the order of a three hundredthirty thousand dollars for about twenty three hundred
feet of sidewalk. That's going toclose a pretty significant gap between some of

(05:26):
the subdivisions that have sprung up aroundthe school. As a matter of fact,
the recent sidewalk installation actually closed somegaps between some new subdivisions that are
on the east side of five fortyseven, you know, essentially opposite of
the school frontage. And that's abig issue in a growing region such as
that part of Polk and other partsof the county and other parts of the

(05:49):
areas that we serve, is thatyou have subdivisions that appear and they may
be a mile or two apart,and then there's, uh, there's they
may have sidewalks in one subdivision andin the other, but maybe not in
between. So that catching up isalways a part of the process, correct,

(06:11):
Yeah, you know, candidly,we're frequently interrears on these issues or
these these needs. Some of it, particularly with schools, has to do
with with the sighting, Uh insome of these areas that were previously undeveloped.
And it's certainly if you cite twoschools, there's going to be subdivisions
that grow up around it. Uh. You know, it's a high growth

(06:31):
area to begin with, and youadd schools, you know, Uh,
there's the public expectations, certainly whenthere's a tragic incident like like that occurred
in February that you know, weextend the infrastructure to where the folks live.
So we're certainly trying to meet thedemands. Thankfully, Like I said,

(06:53):
the Sidewalk Advisor Committee prioritized some additionalsidewalk to help some of these subdivisions
that are currently you know, linkedtogether by sidewalk to help you know,
their students, uh, you know, access to school in a safer manner.
And there's there's a host of otherprojects traffic signals, intersection improvements,

(07:18):
what we regard is capacity improvements wherewe're building new roads or expanding roads.
So this is the highest growth areain Polk County, and Polk County is
committing a lot of resources and revenueto delivering on some of the existing needs
while trying to look forward and providefor future needs as well, because obviously

(07:40):
we anticipate that these areas are goingto continue to grow, maybe not at
the break breakneck speed that they arenow, but people continue to come and
they have the expectations of infrastructure,and we're certainly trying to provide that to
them so that regardless of the modality, whether they're dryving, biking, or

(08:01):
walking, that we're providing you safeopportunities for them to get to where they
want to go. And of coursethe process is continuing, and of course
the county just opened up a biggovernment center out east of Lake Alfred going
towards Haines City, and the FloridaDepartment of Transportation is has been talking about

(08:22):
widening US ninety two from Haines Cityup toward the Davenport Poincian area. So
the process goes on and on.Bill Skelton with the Polk County Roads and
Drainage Division, thank you very muchfor joining us on beyond the News.
Gordon, my pleasure. Thank youfor asking Sir