Roundabout selected as Perdido Key intersection solution, now under design process

Engineers are just beginning the design process for a roundabout on Perdido Key meant to help calm traffic and increase access for residents.

Christine Fanchi, transportation engineer for Escambia County, said the design process is expected to take about nine months before the roundabout can be constructed at Perdido Key Drive and Johnson Beach Road.

She said the hope is construction can be completed during the off season on the beach, which is between November and spring break.

"So the traffic circle has the added benefit of slowing down traffic and sort of bookmarking the commercial core of Perdido Key so that people slow down, take it a little safer through there. Nobody wants to have their vacation end with a trip to the hospital," Escambia County Commissioner Doug Underhill said.

The county has seen a number of issues at the current intersection including severe crashes speeding on Perdido Key Drive and limited access for residents along Johnson Beach who felt like they're not able to get out of their homes.

On an average day, between 12,500 and 19,000 cars pass through the intersection, Fanchi said.

Early this summer, the county presented three different potential options for the intersection, which were the roundabout, an improved signalized intersection and making no change.

"There was concern at the public meeting ... we don't know how to deal with roundabouts. Is it going to create other issues?," Fanchi said.

At the time, residents cited concerns about the cost of the roundabout, which was the most expensive option, and motorists clogging residential roads to avoid a roundabout.

Fanchi said both the signalized intersection and a roundabout could work at the intersection. However, the roundabout offers an additional speed reduction or traffic calming element.

Following a public meeting where the majority of residents said they wanted the roundabout, Underhill decided to eventually push that plan forward for board approval and now into the design process.

Part of the decision to choose the roundabout was also based on how it would affect the endangered Perdido Key beach mouse. Underhill said the roundabout option had the least amount of impact to the animals' corridor for east and west migration.

Potential improvements on the road were made possible after a road swap between the state and Escambia County last year. For 6.2 miles of Perdido Key Drive from Gongora Drive to the state line, the county gave the state control of 2.5 miles of Beulah Road from Mobile Highway to Isaacs Lane.

The cost of the roundabout likely will be in the $500,000 range and will come from discretionary Local Option Sales Tax funds, Underhill said.

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"Obviously, politics can always be interesting but I would consider that to be very much on track and fully funded," Underhill said.

The intersection also is the beginning of the high-density commercial center of Perdido Key, which has a lot of pedestrian traffic, Underhill said.

A master plan for the area predicted that a roundabout could be a placemaker for Perdido Key, Fanchi said, which could create an atmosphere that might encourage mixed-use developments for shopping or dining.

"It's going to slow you and allow you to really understand that you're in Perdido Key instead of just driving really fast to get to Flora-Bama or wherever you're going," she said. "If you want to create a place, the roundabout really helps to give you those opportunities more so than a signal and more so than what's out there right now."

Madison Arnold can be reached at marnold@pnj.com and 850-435-8522.