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Mayor’s Message continued

I have asked Gov. DeSantis to veto this ill-conceived
legislation.
Sewer upgrades. The city is stepping up its project to boost
sewer capacity by better preventing the infiltration of
stormwater runoff into the sewer pipes. The stormwater runoff
increases demand on our treatment plant, adds to our
operational and maintenance expenses and contributes to
potential sewer overflows.
We are conducting assessments of sewer lines and manhole
covers in search of cracks and defects. Our first focus is on
10 critical basins. Staff is planning to increase funding for this
work from $3.8 million this year to $5.1 million next year and
then to $15.8 million in 2026. We would continue with that
level of funding at least through 2029.

School zone safety. The city is looking at starting a new pilot
program to install cameras in school zones to enforce speed
limits. New state legislation allows cities to do this.
Not only would it increase safety for school children, but
it would increase law enforcement coverage beyond what
our current staffing can handle. The cameras could be used
from 30 minutes before the start of school to 30 minutes
after school ends. A pilot program could be ready for next
school year and would focus initially on four schools – Sunrise
Middle, Northside Elementary, Rock Island Elementary, and
New River Middle. signals countywide. This is of critical importance because
better timing should have dramatic impacts on congestion.
If successful, the city could expand the program to
more schools. The county committed to using money from the transportation
surtax to fund the work. They plan to deploy new adaptive
signal control technology. This technology continuously analyzes
green lights in a more equitable fashion based on real-time
intersection arrivals and is more responsive to traffic conditions.
The first project using adaptive signal control was in Pembroke
Pines and reduced travel time by 10 percent and vehicle
delays by more than 20 percent. The county is planning seven
projects in Fort Lauderdale between now and 2026 using this
technology, including Broward Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard,
Commercial Boulevard and Southeast 17th Street.

In addition to this work, the county is retiming traffic signals. The
following streets will be retimed this year: State Road A1A from
Mayan Drive to Sunrise Boulevard, Federal Highway from
Davie Boulevard to Searstown, Powerline Road from Sunrise
Boulevard to Commercial Boulevard, Broward Boulevard from
Federal Highway to State Road 7, and Cypress Creek Road
from Dixie Highway to Northwest 31st Avenue.

Yours,
Traffic light synchronization. The city recently received an Dean Trantalis
update from Broward County on its efforts to upgrade traffic Mayor, City of Fort Lauderdale

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