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One man's answer to Pensacola Beach traffic woes

May 21, 2015
/ Carlton Proctor
/ community-dashboard

With Memorial Day upon us, a huge number of locals and tourists will be heading to Pensacola Beach over the weekend, and with them will come the inevitable, frustrating and wasteful traffic jams. I don't have a clue as to how many people will be cramming on to the beach over the next four days, but I do know I will not be one of them. It's not that I don't love Pensacola Beach; it's one of the great destinations in America, as far as I'm concerned. It's just that life is too short to be spending hours stuck in traffic on the Three Mile Bridge, creeping through Gulf Breeze, enduring the agonizing, oh-so-close-to-the-beach crawl over the Bob Sikes Bridge only to encounter the log-jam at the tolls booths; beyond which lies exhilarating freedom; assuming you can find a parking space. Yes, the beach has a traffic problem that's getting worse. It will get much worse when the Florida Department of Transportation begins construction of the new Pensacola Bay Bridge in early 2017. The new $600 million bridge could take three-to-four years, or longer, to complete. The good news is the replacement bridge will have three lanes each way with bike paths in both directions. What's more, the new bridge will have emergency lanes that will alleviate shutdowns during accidents, flat tires or other mishaps. But, realistically, the new bridge won't solve the problem of traffic getting through the Gulf Breeze choke-point, nor will it do anything to allow more traffic across the Bob Sikes Bridge and on to the beach. So, what can be done? Personally, I don't think ferries are the answer. It's not in the culture of the average local beachgoer, or out-of-town tourist, to take a ferry, or spend the money and time required to traverse the bay to the beach and back. Creating parking and ramping facilities for the ferry boats in downtown Pensacola, and similar facilities on the beach will be expensive and used only on the peak weekends during the peak seasons. In short, a ferry system will be very expensive to operate and maintain. The biggest problem — the limited parking on the beach notwithstanding — is the traffic backing up on the only direct route to the beach; across the Three Mile Bridge, through Gulf Breeze and over the Sikes Bridge. Here's a thought, feeble as it might be: Why not go to the source of the problem: the toll booths. During the peak hours on high-volume weekends and holidays, open the toll booths and let vehicles flow through without paying? "Oh, no, we can't do that," I can already hear the howl from Escambia County, which owns the Sikes bridge and collects all the toll revenues. Toll revenues are used to pay Escambia County's bond debt for the four-laning of Via de Luna on the beach. I don't have the latest figures, but in 2012, for example, the county collected $3.45 million from tolls. It spent $1.5 million on the bond debt, and another $961,000 on toll booth operations and maintenance, leaving a net profit of about $1 million. So, it's probably safe to assume the county's net profit from tolls has increased over the last three years. Thus, relinquishing toll revenues for peak weekends or holidays would not jeopardize the county's bond debt obligations. Yes, it would put a dent in toll revenues, but here's my point in all this: What is it costing the county, and the Santa Rosa Island Authority, to have all these folks sitting in cars, not spending money? For every dollar spent on Pensacola Beach, or anywhere else in Escambia County, 1.5 cents is generated by a local option sales tax. That money is used to build schools, public works and other needed infrastructure projects. In addition, the SRIA receives 2.5 percent of each dollar spent on the island, for its operations and maintenance. When you have a family of four, or a busload of teenagers from New Orleans on holiday, stuck in traffic for hours, not buying souvenirs, or lunch at a beach restaurant, or renting beach chairs or bicycles, what's it costing the county, and SRIA, in lost sales tax revenues? My guess is the dollar it charges for each vehicle at the toll booth is a pittance when weighted against the sales tax revenues being lost on the beach. And, what about folks like me, who would love to go to the beach on weekends and spend some money, but don't because it's just too much to bear? I hope traffic will not get backed up this weekend, and tourists won't get frustrated, turn around and go to another destination. And I hope the merchants, restaurants and hotels will have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend. But all it takes is one fender bender on the Three Mile Bridge, or one balky red light in Gulf Breeze, and you've got another epic traffic jam that chokes the economy, little by little, on the beach. Periodically suspending the tolls won't solve all the traffic problems to the beach. But letting traffic flow smoothly through the toll booths to the beach will, in the end, be a net gain for everyone.

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One man's answer to Pensacola Beach traffic woes

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