This project will repave Drew Street between Osceola Avenue and US 19.  The area between Osceola and Keene will be restriped to create a two lane roadway with wider sidewalks and bike lanes.

The project is currently in the design phase. Construction is currently anticipated to begin in 2024.
 

Drew Street Study Timeline:
• July 2022 – Initial meeting with FDOT District 7 Lane Repurposing Committee (LRC).
• January 2023 – Draft Lane Repurposing Concept Report to FDOT District 7 LRC.
• April 2023 – Revised Draft Lane Repurposing Concept Report to FDOT LRC. Additional public engagement needed per City of Clearwater ‘support’ letter (this ended up on hold due to the added legislative language).
• April 2023 – Legislature directed FDOT to update the corridor study and concept based on new traffic data.

Current Status:
FDOT has completed the following to be consistent with requests by the City of Clearwater and in conformance with the Proviso language.

• Updated the Traffic Model to include five developments that the City had identified, as well as the Cleveland Street modification.
• FDOT collected new 2023 traffic counts as requested.
• FDOT updated the 2045 Build and No Build traffic forecasts, based on the new 2023 traffic counts and updated model output.

Once FDOT has concurrence from the City of Clearwater on the traffic forecast the lane repurposing study will be updated and resubmitted to the lane repurposing committee.

Preliminary Findings:
• The total number of crashes are expected to decrease by 57%.
• The build alternative will provide dedicated bike and safer pedestrian facilities.
• 2023 traffic counts averaged 1,200 vehicles less than 2021 traffic counts.
• Updated 2045 forecasts show that Drew Street will operate at the same level of service. 
• Travel demand model volumes estimate that parallel routes will experience a 4% increase in traffic on average. This means that on the busiest parallel street (SR 60) you would see two additional cars per minute. On average parallel streets would see one additional car every 1.5 minutes.
• The travel time from Downtown Clearwater (Osceola Avenue) to Keene Road (2.2 miles) is only expected to increase by less than 30 seconds.

Next Steps:
• Evaluate if additional analysis is required. 
• Meet with City of Clearwater staff to review preliminary findings and discuss any need for additional analysis to address outstanding concerns. 
• Update the lane repurposing study and concept evaluation.