Ft. Pierce wants you to go 35 on the Drive!

Ft. Pierce wants you to go 35 on the Drive!

Ft. Pierce, Fl (treasurecoast.com)- The City of Ft. Pierce wants you to go 35 on the drive!

The city wants drivers to slow down along Indian River Drive.

As it installs more signs, it will continue working with St. Lucie County to find a way to permanently curb speeding on the road.  Indian River Drive’s speed limit is 35 mph, but motorists drive between 40-43 mph, Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney said.

  Fort Pierce police made 421 traffic stops along Indian River Drive in 2018 and 2019, issued 157 traffic citations and 187 written warnings to drivers on Indian River Drive. In the same period, sheriff’s deputies issued 185 citations there, 143 warnings and arrested five people for DUI. 

Carved out in the late 1800s as part of a wagon trail, Indian River Drive lacks the necessary 15-foot right of way on either side. Instead, the narrow 20-foot roadway — about four feet narrower than what would be required today — has only about 5 feet on each side, leaving no support on the east side. 

Fort Pierce is limited in what it can do because most of the two-lane road is in the county’s jurisdiction, and the city owns no land where it could install traffic-calming devices, city staff said.  Fort Pierce could annex the portion from Citrus Avenue to Rio Vista Drive, which runs through the city, and install traffic-calming measures such as speed tables. But that option has never been presented to the City Commission.

Installing speed tables would cost $8,000-$10,000 each. The city plan to install signs with catchy slogans to remind motorists to enjoy the view, but police won’t let up on enforcement, Hobley-Burney said.  There’s no timetable for when the signs re to be in place.  St. Lucie County has spent $16,000 installing two stop signs on Indian River Drive at Walton Road to join one on Walton. It, too, lacks the necessary right of way to install permanent solutions.

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  • Posted 4 years ago

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