The urbanist Andres Duane once said that the Department of Transportation has “destroyed more American cities than Gen. Sherman.”
In that regard, there’s not another city in Alachua County that exemplifies the triumph of traffic engineering at the expense of the very fabric and quality of civic life than Waldo.
This once prosperous railroad town has the saddest downtown in the county – mostly it’s boarded up and all but abandoned.
And to a great extent, that’s by design: Traffic facilitation design that is.
Tiny Waldo is riven by two major highways – U.S. 301 and Waldo Rd.
And for having the temerity to presume to slow down the relentless flow of FDOT-engineered auto and truck traffic through its city limits, Waldo was labeled a “Speed Trap” and was ultimately forced too disband its police force under the relentless pressure of politics and bad publicity.
But perhaps Waldo is finally going to catch a break from the Florida Department of Transportation. One that, hopefully, will inject a measure of civic life and economic activity back into its historic downtown.
On Wednesday, July 20, FDOT will host a town meeting at Waldo City Square from 4:30 to 6 p.m. to talk about – and I’m not making this up – a $23 million remake of the stretch of Waldo Road that runs through the historic heart of the city.
“The City of Waldo expressed interest in providing a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly facility to encourage economic development in the area,” says an FDOT information packet. “This project proposes to repurpose SR 24 (Waldo Road) to serve all users: people who walk, bicycle or drive.”
Sounds promising. Goodness knows that the existing two-lane, auto-dominant design of the eastbound Waldo Road leaves very little room for pedestrians, cyclists or other living things. And never mind economic investment opportunities.
Narrowing the street to a single auto lane while adding bike lanes, crosswalks and other improvements may well set the stage for an eventual revitalization of Waldo’s historic downtown. (Hey, wouldn’t this be a great place for a brewery?)
After being all but destroyed by the autoAmerican imperative of traffic flow first and above all other priorities, Waldo could sorely use a little FDOT break right about now.
FreeGNV 