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Special Feature

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN UPDATE

By Commissioner Steven Glassman

as Olas Boulevard is arguably our city's iconic, premier 12th Avenue, was accepted after some modifications were
street. Over the years, plans have surfaced for recommended at the last Commission meeting. The Eastern
L improvements in certain sections that did not take Corridor, from SE 12th Avenue to the Beach, received some final
everyone into consideration. Thus, Commissioner Ben edits at the Workshop earlier Tuesday.
Sorensen and I convened the Las Olas Mobility Working Invaluable feedback was provided by the residents and
Group to study holistically the entire stretch of road from businesses all along Las Olas Boulevard which lead to some
Andrews Avenue to A1A. The agreed upon mission: important revisions such as ensuring a comprehensive traffic
"connecting residents, businesses and visitors of Fort study will extend from SE 12th Avenue to SE 17th Avenue. Also,
Lauderdale through the enhancement of this iconic boulevard we will not be taking any land on SE 15th Avenue, nor will we
representing our history and future". reduce any parking. Language was added to the plan to cover

After two and a half years of planning, public input, and engineering and infrastructure along the corridor. Future
revisions, a resolution to accept the Las Olas Conceptual consideration must take into account how the proposed tunnel
Design Vision was unanimously passed by the Fort Lauderdale from the downtown Brightline station to the Beach will impact
City Commission. As I like to remind everyone, there is still traffic on Las Olas, and we also need to examine the sightline
much work left ahead of us since we have only accepted a conditions of the bridges on the north side of Las Olas Isles.
vision of what we would like - we have not adopted a plan or
begun the design phase. This is a guidepost for moving us As we know, a plan will take some time to design and
forward. We will continue to flesh out more details as we implement, so I have advocated for moving forward now on two
proceed, and, as always, we will continue to invite public issues: street markings and lane modifications on SE 15th
input along the way. Avenue to improve traffic flow between Las Olas Boulevard and
Broward Boulevard and crosswalks for safety on the Las Olas
Taking into account all of the comments and discussion from our Isles. Working with the Director of Transportation and Mobility
June 1st Commission meeting, we divided the Vision into Eastern and the City Manager, funds have been identified in the FY
and Western Corridors to allow for changes to be implemented 2022 Budget for up to two crosswalks with manual signalization.
more easily. The Western Corridor, from Andrews Avenue to SE

12 LAS OLAS BOULEVARD & ISLES