- Construction on Magnolia Drive has led to drivers speeding through neighborhoods as a shortcut.
- Tallahassee Police Department has placed speed monitors within the neighborhoods to collect data and get drivers to slow down.
- Watch the video to learn why the increase in traffic and speeders has neighbors concerned.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Kenya Cardonne, your Southeast Tallahassee neighborhood reporter.
Construction and detours related to the Magnolia Drive Trail Project are still in full swing. Despite road closure signs and speed monitors in place, neighbors in the Indianhead Lehigh and Woodland Drives communities say drivers are cutting through these neighborhoods and they’re not slowing down.
Michael Ferrara, Neighbor - “People, they’re either going to work or coming home from work and they are in that mode.”
A ‘hurry’ mode that makes living near Magnolia Drive a bit scarier.
A Blueprint project shut down parts of this artery of a road last May to bring sidewalks, street lighting, utility upgrades and more to Southeast Tallahassee.
But with construction comes detours and drivers using shortcuts through neighborhoods to avoid them.
Ferrara - “I’m just hoping nobody gets run over.”
Mike Ferrara is one of many in the community who say traffic has picked up on these small, internal roads and most drivers are ignoring every sign to pump the brakes.
Ferrara - “Would you feel comfortable walking your dog down that street right now?”
With steep roads and no sidewalks, neighbors tell me it’s a recipe for disaster.
Ferrara - “If there was some way they could put better signage up to where these people would actually use the detours that they have, you know.”
Jeremy Matlow, City Commissioner - “I think they recognize the road improvements are coming and it’s temporary, but what can we do immediately to make sure people are safe in the neighborhood?”
City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow says after hearing from the neighborhood, the City got the Tallahassee Police Department to step in.
Matlow - “They put those monitors out there to kind of get a gauge of how many people are speeding, how frequently they’re speeding, when they’re speeding and if it warrants it, to send officers out there to monitor it.”
Matlow tells me the first set of data these monitors collected doesn’t warrant sending an officer right now but the city is looking into relocating the monitors to other hotspots in the area.
I also brought to his attention that some monitors seem to not be operating during all hours of the day.
Matlow says “To our neighbors: slow down, these are people’s neighborhoods.”
Concerns could last until construction for this phase ends at the end of 2025.
Ferrara - “We have to deal with it, you know. It’s progress so we have to deal with it. I just wish that the people that were using our neighborhood would be a little bit more considerate.”
Although this area is within the City of Tallahassee's jurisdiction, the County tells me they have also reached out to TPD to request they increase patrols in this area.
As a reminder, if you need an alternate route to head East or West, take Orange Ave. or East Lafayette St. instead.
In Southeast Tallahassee, Kenya Cardonne ABC 27.
