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Atlantic Beach residents press commission to act on Sherry Drive speeding; city moves to prioritize traffic calming
Summary
Residents urged the Atlantic Beach Commission to address frequent speeding, truck cut-throughs and pedestrian safety on Sherry Drive. Commissioners acknowledged the risk, asked staff to pursue a study and signaled intent to prioritize traffic-calming measures in the next fiscal year.
Residents told Atlantic Beach commissioners on April 6 that speeding and large trucks on Sherry Drive are endangering children and pedestrians, and urged immediate physical traffic-calming measures.
"I'm here today just to talk about the traffic issue that we currently have in Sherry and specifically speeding," resident Mike Walsh said, noting two young daughters and frequent foot and bicycle traffic near a nearby school. He asked the city to "take a very aggressive approach to try to curb this problem" before a serious crash occurs.
Former parking-and-traffic-committee member Fred Jones said Sherry Drive is primarily a residential street, not an FDOT arterial, and urged design changes rather than a wait-for-incident approach: "It's not a City Of Jacksonville Road. It's not an FDOT road. It's primarily a residential street," he said.
Another resident, Mike Kulwick, pressed commissioners to favor physical interventions over paint and signs, saying, "paint is not protection," and urging speed tables, raised crossings, curb extensions and other measures that change driver behavior.
In response, the mayor acknowledged the public comments and said traffic calming could be folded into the commission's priority list for the coming fiscal year. Commissioner Kelly asked the city to request a formal traffic study by the City of Jacksonville/FDOT for the Sherry Drive and Atlantic Boulevard intersection; staff representative Kevin said the request would be acted on, adding, "Consider that done."
Commissioners and staff discussed sequencing: the commission will finalize its priorities in roughly 30 days and will use the selected priorities to guide staff work and the FY26–27 budget process. Staff said more comprehensive traffic-calming work on Cherry/Sherry Drive could be completed in the next fiscal year if prioritized.
Next steps: staff will request the traffic study and return priority recommendations as part of the commission's resolution next month; the commission will allocate its 10 prioritization votes during the follow-up session and the city will schedule related budget workshops through July ahead of budget adoption in September.
