Citrus Grove Gate Damage
 

As residents of Citrus Grove know. We have our gates damaged at least once per week.
This is a major expensive.
Why can't Meggison be considered a main thoroughfare like Buna Vista or Morris Blvd and do away with the gates?

Changes
 

It changes from a 4 way to a 2 lane with the golf cart intersection at the gate for safety. Anyone that damages the gate pays 200 for the repair. Cameras are on the gate 24/7. Construction is the main problem right now.

Answer: Try crossing over Meggison from the pro shop to the starter shack at Southern Oaks. The cart crossing is already misplaced by not being directly behind the gate like most in TV. Their location about 80-100 yards "downstream' allows vehicles entering Citrus Grove to be accelerating by the time they reach the crossing and those exiting have not yet slowed down. That crossing should be right past the gate or a tunnel should have been built. It is a major accident waiting to happen. Removing the gate would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Past Sawgrass, Meggison is considered to be a minor thoroughfare like Moyer and Pinellas. That is why there are no gates when you enter all of the Villages along Meggison.

Golfers appear to easily cross Pinellas and Moyer, so why is it hard to cross Meggison?

The crossing at Pinellas and at Moyer are right behind the gates. The entering traffic is stopped and you can watch the gate arm. The exiting traffic is at a crawl because of the gate. Totally different at southern Oaks, as I already described.
Also, at most gate crossings you can go 1/2 way across and stop---at Citrus Grove it is "all or nothing"

I was thinking of the carts having to cross Pinellas down near Bonifay.

They don't have to go straight across. They can turn into the cart lane and merge about 50 yards later and turn left.

Way more traffic, and the golf cart crossing is poorly placed.

Did you miss this post?

"It changes from a 4 way to a 2 lane with the golf cart intersection at the gate for safety"

Pinellas and Moyer are two lane roads, not a 4 lane road like Meggison is as it approaches the gate @ Citrus Grove...

The golf cart traffic is going to go up exponentially once the Bexley bridge opens up to golf cart traffic. Anyone north of Meggison will have to cross there to get to the bridge.

OK, that makes perfect sense. Since we don't have a golf cart and don't play golf on the 18-hole courses, we have no idea of the problems you cart riders encounter.

If we had to cross Meggison in a golf cart, we would probably go around the pickleball courts and get onto Meggison farther south and then pull onto the car lane and then turn left onto the golf course.

It’s not hard at all. People just can’t drive, have no patience, and love to complain.

I was behind a semi with roof trusses on the back. The trusses stood out about 5-6ft from the right side and I saw him knock off the gate. How many houses needed trusses while building past homestead?
The golf cart crossing after the gates on meggison is a safety issue and somebody is going to get hurt. They should have put a tunnel under meggison.
As for patience, I’m tired of hearing that. Have you experienced the traffic on meggison? Probably not. You can wait minutes to get across even in a car, and it’s not going to get better anytime soon.
There are gates on Morse, right after 466 going northbound, and it goes from 2 lanes to 1.

One thing that would help is putting in a traffic light for golf carts crossing Meggison, like they have on the roadway at Colony. It is only going to get worse once things start opening up across the Toll Road, i.e. Eastport, golf courses, etc.

More Traffic
 

It will get much worse as traffic volume increases because an additional thousand homes being completed in lake Denham and Dabney.

The gate at Sawgrass is needed to allow golf carts at least a fighting chance to cross to Southern Oaks golf course. There should be a tunnel under Meggison for golf carts to safely navigate...developer made an error on that decision. However, two more mistakes are making the area difficult for golfers. (1) Putting the pro shop away from the golf course since you have to go to the pro shop to pay green fees. (2) Not having a bag drop on the golf course side of Meggison makes those driving autos to the course have issues getting their bag to the course since they have to park in Sawgrass. Seems the whole golfing area was not completely thought out...similar to not having auto parking at the Putt and Play in Fenney.

...

As the VHA rep in Citrus Grove and now in Newell, I can tell you we’ve been trying to make changes here forever. There’s nowhere else to put the gate in Citrus Grove because instead of two entries like Hawkins, there are 17 intersections in Citrus Grove alone on Meggison Road. The real safety issue here is the golf cart lane ends at this golf cart crossing mentioned and Golf Carts need to merge into the main road only to slowly turn right immediately after. I’ve been asking for an “off ramp“ for two years now… the developer has deaf ears.

Freeway
 

Meggison Freeway’s main issue is speed. There are no roundabouts for several miles (a Villager’s dream) and fighting for poll positions between golf carts and cars is continuous (car thinks they always have to win). That mentality of “It’s just a golf cart, I speed up” will never disappear. Serious accidents are bound to come.

Maybe at least one or two of the (9 ea) unmarked new Wildwood police cars makes it to patrol the northwest side of the gates on 4 lane Meggison?

If you damage it and you live in The Villages, yes you will get a repair cost added to your monthly water bill. Since the roads are public, if you don't live in The Villages, there is no enforceable penalty.

No roundabouts
 

With no roundabouts people would be driving 50 mph. It’s hard enough now to cross Meggison Road on a golf cart. They should have put roundabouts in down to 470. Another cost savings for the Villages without regards to our safety.

Round Abouts Lake County
 

There aren’t roundabouts in Lake County. That is unless you come upon a state project like the turnpike. There engineers installed traffic circles near the roadway because of previous plans engineered in uniformity along each exit. This is done along several miles and for a large chunk of the turnpike extending across several counties.

Agreed. Been fighting this battle all year with CDD, County, Wildwood. Attended 10 or more meetings to voice concern to all public officials. No public officials have been willing to take the necessary action to make a change.

Try that in a cart with no left turn lane and you will be asking to be rear-ended by a speeding auto or truck. Horrible design and it has gone on deaf ears. Our CDD Reps have not done what it takes to get it changed nor the District Manager, Kenny Blocker. He says “wait for the buildout”(when the golf cart traffic will quadruple). Makes no sense.
He should have just said ……
“We don’t want to listen to your concerns, now take a hike!”

A better question is why can't old people give up driving? If they are so bad that they hit gates then they should not be driving.

My guess is that Kenny is tired of hearing the constant b$))(ching and second guessing of Villagers. I can’t blame him.

Carts on Moyer, Pinellas, and Hillsborough have to turn left sometimes and I have never heard of them having a hard time.

Maybe the people like us living north of 44 have learned to share the roads with carts.

Citrus Grove Gate Damage
 

Thank you for your response

That’s his job and to make changes when warranted.

Once per week sounds expensive enough to find a solution to the problem. Not sure about what a "minor or major thoroughfare should be at that location, but I have a problem with the way the gates are painted. They are NOT very visible - mostly white with small sections of red doesn't seem to work especially if they are in shade. How about the whole gate being optic YELLOW with maybe some type of reflectors on them?
......I remember reading that there is some STUPID reason for them to be white and red. But, with all the problems with those colors isn't it time for CHANGE ?

I strongly suspect the gate arms are damaged from people squeezing through behind another vehicle, rather than one going through one at a time. I don’t believe the damage is caused by people not being able to see them in the first place.

And with all due respect, if someone is unable to see the gate arms, they might want to reevaluate whether or not they should still be behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

Speaking of frequently damaged gate arms is the one at Pinellas just off of 466A.

Construction Vehicles
 

Most damage isn’t done by Villagers. The construction/contractor vehicles cause a majority of the gate problems. They had the gates removed earlier in the year, but there were too many close calls with speeding vehicles so they were put back in place. They were reinstalled in “construction mode” where no pass is required.

I’m not privy to the stats on how the gate arms are damaged.

People perhaps that is and has always been the problem, the cause of most problems. Since most accidents are avoidable it should be called what it is-a dumb action. It is always said it is someone else's fault and yet we have far more control over what we do than those around us.

I’m sorry, but if you can’t see a gate arm at eye level that you KNOW is there, how are you going to see a 3 year old grandchild that darts into the street? Time to turn in your license

Bad comparison.
My headlights are beam formed towards the road. Very little light shoots upward to the height of the arms. This is to prevent oncoming vehicle drivers from being blinded by my headlights. All modern cars are like that, and especially with OEM LED headlights.
A child is standing on the ground, and would be very well lit up, even at a distance.

whether you can see the gate arm or not ,common sense should tell you when you pull up to the gate itself that there must be a gate arm ahead of you , another problem that we need new rules for like the left arrow blinking at traffic lights or new gate equipment because people feel unsafe , instead of just paying attention to what your doing

And all the gates that are hit in the middle of the day?