Golf Cart Bridge At Colony Blvd
 

A golf cart bridge carrying carts up and over Colony Blvd will be built according to The Villages on-line news. Janet Tutt made the announcement this morning. The bridge is expected to cost upwards of $400,000 and will proceed with or without the developer's participation.

This is really good news!

Great news. Let's hope they can build it as fast as they build houses.

Here is my prediction. When it is built there will be a thread on TOTV where the whiners and complainers will question; the design, the color, the width, the speed limit, should have been four lanes, had to wait 35 seconds for backed up cart traffic to clear the bridge, etc.

lol....well that will give you something else to be sarcastic about

Don't go out that way more than 4-5 times a year, so doesn't change my travels. But good news for the rest. I'm impressesd with the pricetag. Very reasonable considering. Have to love the cheap labor in Florida!

I bet the evil one will charge a toll to cross it.

Good news for sure - could someone enlighten me as to where you expect the start and finish point might be.

My bet is total costs including modifications to current cart paths etc will be greater than $400,000.

Sounds to me to be a safer alternative to somr traffic control set up.

Realy don't see what will a bridge will solve ?
Traffic wil still be entering and exiting Colony

Not complaining - just asking - I just looked at the diagram on the village news site and can't understand how folks coming on the golf cart side of the path will be able to turn left to enter the shopping center. Actually is doesn't look like you can make a right turn either to get into the shopping center. I am very confused - looks like all the bridge will do is take you over Colony Rd not allow for travel to the shopping center. Can someone straighten me out?

Funny! :beer3:

I'm sure that's not the FINAL look. Maybe they'll put a cloverleaf on the south side of the bridge to enter the shopping center.

I think there's lots of options and the best idea so far.

Congrats to the developer, J Tutt and the whole team.

Just came through that way and I feel sorry for the neighborhood watch people who have to direct traffic. I feel that intersection is extremely dangerous and am so glad they are building a bridge. I just hope they get it done soon.

Plenty of room on the south side, guessing that the "up/down" ramp on the north side will run parallel to Colony with a 90 degree turn at the top.

Maybe they're keeping the price down by using Community Watch people to build it.

Block Road
 

Would it not make more sense to block the road and make it a dead end coming from Morse where the cart path crosses. This would force cars to go up to 466A to enter the shopping Center.

I appreciate the interest to solve the problem.

What you might have missed is that on the south side of Colony Blvd you can take a right after crossing the bridge southbound. That give you access to the Rec Center as well as takes you back to Colony Blvd where you can take a right and get to the shopping areas. You can do the exact opposite route to return back towards all points north!

Also, I wonder if they considered temporarily closing Colony Blvd and put in another tunnel instead a bridge. I don't know it that would significantly lessen the cost, but in either case either idea would definitely be better than what currently exists.

Can someone post a "link" to the article that shows the proposed bridge alignment referenced in some of the earlier responses?

If you look at the diagram, they are closing off the east entrance to Colony and creating a jughandle with grass on both sides. Carts coming off the bridge will take a right and carts from Sanibel will turn left before the bridge to get to Colony Blvd.

http://www.*******************/wp-co...2/OVerview.jpg

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This will take you to the sorely with the map.

I live south of colony and am grateful they are doing something. No solution is perfect but at least they are trying to fix it. Happy travels.

Can it be a toll bridge? I do not own a golf cart.

Here is the picture

I just hope they make it wider than the bridge crossing 441 -- with the new doors on carts, there is barely scraping room when the two meet on that bridge.

This photo presents a preliminary concept that when engineered will be much more extensive to accommodate a vertical crossing of Colony Boulevard. There is no way that you will be able to construct an approach cart path that will span over Colony Boulevard with 16' to 17' vertical clearance in the horizontal distances represented by the photo's concept.

I would guess that the cart approach would have to begin to rise shortly after leaving the 466A tunnel and then descend in a similar fashion on the golf course side. These rises and descends will require considerable approach distances to the south and north of a Colony Boulevard.

A tunnel beneath Colony Boulevard would appear to be a more practical solution as you would not require as much approach distance to accommodate the vertical clearance dimensions needed for a cart underpass. The proximity of the golf course to the north will present a challenge but not an insurmountable challenge.

I still need convincing how a bridge over Colony Blvd will help southbound carts making a left turn to go into the Shopping Plaza. Additionally, how will it help westbound carts trying to make a left turn to get back across 466A.

The simplest solution would be a 4 way stop sign at the cart crossing and Colony location.

As I was saying ...
 

Block off the road at the cart path, Put signs up at Morse and at Citizens Bank at Colony that state " No thru Car Traffic "

Do this now and eliminate the Trafic Guards . See how it works now before going into the costs of a bridge.

As a previous poster mentioned the approach on both sides of the bridge will take up a lot more space than the drawing indicate, I think.

Cheers

Building a bridge or tunnel is not the answer to this problem. Most traffic is turning right from the north bound lane or left from the south bound lane. The automobile traffic will remain the same. This only allows the few carts that are going from one side to the other to do so easily. Has anyone checked with Community Watch while they are directing traffic if this will resolve the matter?

Let's see: Two Stop signs $400.00, bridge over trouble waters $400,000. what is the fee for the ones that came up with the recomendation, Don't they get a % of final cost.

According to the current drawing, there will be no left turns after a bridge is built for southbound carts. There will be two right hand turns going southbound to get to the plaza; one left turn & one right turn for northbound carts. The green filled areas added to the map help to see this.

I agree Golf2140. There are cheaper solutions that would be just as effective in reducing the potential traffic crashes at that location.

I haven't seen any numbers, but IMHO a vast majority of golf carts are those traveling southbound and turning left to head to the shopping plaza or those traveling westbound and turning left on the cart path from Colony to head back towards 466A. A small percentage of carts are traveling straight across Colony (north/south) and a bridge would work for them.

I hope it is wider than the one over 441 at Spanish Springs.

Don't think the problem is taking a left into the plaza. The problem comes at the intersection where the people are now directing traffic. Never had a problem turning into the plaza as that is done with the flow of traffic (i.e. no stop sign).

And who is paying for this bridge? I'm thinking it will come back to residents in some way, then I vote for shutting that section of the road down to car traffic. Before they build an expensive bridge they should try other options.

Are you going north or south?

It seems to me that blocking Colony to autos past the entrance to the rec center heading East and shutting down Colony completely heading West from shopping center would be the easiest and least expensive way to solve this problem. Last week I traveled South on Morse to 466A, turned left to the shopping center with no problem.

With all the good suggestions contained in this thread, I encourage each to contact the decision makers of the bridge proposal and appraise them of your thoughts.

This, however and unfortunately usually never happens. Proof? "Representation" in Washington, DC.

btk

Our "deal" is better than that one currently in Washington. Someone who pulls the strings here, knows how to build. SMART is how it is done here in THE VILLAGES.


And to Hema. IF, and I say IF, it fell on all of us financially; do the math. $400,000 divided by 50.000 homes.


I think that is eight bucks.


Not bad for a pretty good fix.