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In an effort to make a section of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue safer for pedestrians, the city of Lakeland has re-landscaped the median near Jackson Park and the Coleman-Bush Building.
The work between Silver Street and Fifth Street comes courtesy of a $500 grant and a plan for low-height, city-grown plants developed by landscapers with the Lakeland Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department.
Project Zero: “Tess Schwartz in our traffic department found a grant for us called Project Zero, and the whole idea is zero pedestrian deaths,” said Bob Donahay, the city’s director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts.
City landscapers removed the coontie plants, which had grown high, and replaced them with something more appropriate for a well-traveled thoroughfare, Donahay said.
He added that people, including children, were dashing across half the road and waiting in the median to cross the next section. Drivers could often not see them in the median and residents were concerned for their safety.
“It’s all low growing. It will stay low growing,” he said of the new plants.
Donahay and City Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr. were working on the issue at the same time after LaLonde had gotten word about the traffic hazard.
Since 2018, there have been no traffic fatalities on MLK Avenue, and city officials are hoping to keep it that way.
Road Diet: There have been discussions to revamp MLK Avenue between Sikes Boulevard and Memorial Boulevard, narrowing the five-lane roadway to three lanes, including a middle turn lane, as part of the Downtown West Action Plan.
Despite the safety concerns in that area for pedestrians, the proposed road diet has been controversia, particularly after the much-debated realignment of South Florida Avenue in Dixieland has soured some residents on the term “road diet.”
At a public meeting in 2023, many residents were against the idea of a road diet for MLK Avenue. In the action plan, a road diet for the roadway is listed as a second-tier priority to be considered later.
“As currently designed, the road is significantly under capacity and frequently above desired operating speed,” the report said. “The community recognized these issues that create a barrier through the heart of the neighborhood.”
Community Redevelopment Agency Director Valerie Vaught told commissioners in April that the plan is not set in stone, particularly the longer-term items.
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