MetroPlan, HDR begin multimodal study to address safety, mobility on Maitland Avenue

City of Maitland officials on June 12 accepted a kickoff presentation from MetroPlan Orlando and consultant HDR to resume a multimodal study of Maitland Avenue and adjacent downtown connections.

The study, presented by Melissa Carroll, a transportation planner with HDR working with MetroPlan Orlando, will pick up work started by FDOT and finish a mobility plan intended to identify capital projects, an opinion of probable cost and public-engagement materials that the city can use to guide downtown improvements and CRA spending.

The study’s stated purpose is to “improve the safety, comfort and efficiency of the transportation network” in the study area with a focus on vulnerable users — defined in the project as people not traveling by motor vehicle — and on producing projects the city can implement through its capital improvement program, Carroll said. Carroll told the council the team will document existing mobility conditions, develop corridor and intersection concepts, prepare visualizations, and create an engagement plan that will include in-person events this summer and an online survey.

Mark (city staff) and Carroll said the MPO offered to continue a study that FDOT had left incomplete after technical shortcomings. Carroll said the consulting team’s first field visit in May emphasized ADA accessibility, drainage, sidewalks, bicycle facilities and utility coordination. The presentation noted crash concentrations on Maitland Avenue and Horatio Avenue and identified a posted speed limit of 35 mph on Maitland Avenue.

Carroll said the project will produce a toolbox of potential improvements — including street trees, bulb-outs, raised medians, midblock crossings and pedestrian signals such as rectangular rapid flashing beacons — and that the team will develop an opinion of probable cost so the city can plan for CIP funding. The study is expected to run about a year to a year and a half, with public engagement beginning this summer and a final plan due in spring of next year. Carroll said the project will hand off to an existing city ad hoc mobility committee, which will act as a steering committee and deliver recommendations to the council for adoption.

Carroll also outlined a public participation plan she expected to finalize “within the next few weeks,” and said the team would attend existing city events such as First Friday and other downtown gatherings to “meet residents where they already are.”

Council members and staff asked procedural questions about the study team’s role and the ad hoc committee’s membership. Carroll said the city-appointed ad hoc committee will do more detailed review and recommended the council direct residents with specific questions to the committee’s Wednesday evening meeting at 6 p.m., when the team will present more detailed materials.

The presentation followed earlier remarks that the MPO and HDR will pick up where FDOT’s prior study left off and use the additional work to provide the “mobility options” needed to plan capital projects in downtown Maitland. The council did not take a formal vote in the meeting on the study’s contract because the MPO is the prime contractor and Maitland is a partnering agency for the MPO-led contract.

The city’s next steps are finalizing the public participation plan, completing policy and plan reviews, and proceeding with corridor concept development later this summer.

Carroll: “The overall goal of this study is to create actionable CIP projects that can be easy for the city and its partners to implement.”