Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Running rings around future of Young Circle
Proposal for a two-way traffic pattern in Hollywood gets mixed reviews
HOLLYWOOD — A grand redesign may be in the cards for downtown Hollywood’s Young Circle, the roadway that confounds drivers with its one-way traffic and seven stoplights.
The ambitious plan calls for the removal of all the traffic lights and would give Hollywood a rare twoway traffic circle. Drivers in the inner lane would travel clockwise; those in the outer lane would travel counterclockwise, as they do today. Four roundabouts with landscaping would replace the lights at Federal Highway and Hollywood Boulevard.
Also under discussion: Persuading the state to build an underground tunnel at Federal Highway and Young Circle to give drivers the option of bypassing the traffic circle. But the idea is so new that Hollywood officials have no plans drawn up yet.
The city is trying to fix a problem residents and commuters have been complaining about for years, Commissioner Peter Hernandez says.
“If it works, it’s perfect,” Hernandez said. “If it doesn’t, it will just drive people mad. I think it would be better than what’s there now. What’s there now doesn’t work. It’s frustrating.”
So far, state transportation officials aren’t saying no to either plan.
“We will be happy to work with the city as they develop plans and will review them when available,” said Chuck McGinness, spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation.
Both concepts are “phenomenal” ways to reduce traffic congestion at Young Circle, said Greg Stuart, executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the agency that organizes transportation projects in Broward County.
“This project would be a bold one,” Mayor Josh Levy said of the redesign proposal. “We have a choke point at the circle. People are avoiding the circle because of the time it takes to get around it. That’s not good for the businesses downtown. You never want to choke off commercial corridors.”
Luis Guevara, a downtown business owner who does whatever he can to avoid Young Circle, agrees something must be done.
“It’s just a pain in the neck to drive through,” he said. “It’s the only circle in the world with that many stoplights. Most circles don’t have traffic lights.”
But the plan has been getting a mixed reaction from other residents and business owners, according to Hernandez.
“Some think it will be a nightmare,” he said. “Some loved it. The jury is still out on that.”
Jimmy Sklavenitis, owner of the Greek Joint downtown, isn’t sure he likes the redesign.
“I think it would be a mess,” he said. “Young Circle is a mess to begin with. Making it a two-way street, I don’t know if it will work. Maybe there’s a reason no one else has tried it.”
Neal Rosenblum, an engineer with a home not far from downtown, says he did a double take when he saw the redesign plan.
“Then I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this could work,’ ” he said. “It was genius, actually. Looks like a great idea, on paper. I think they should try it.”
The Young Circle redesign was the brainchild of Ian Lockwood from the Toole Design Group, a consultant hired by the city to figure out how to improve traffic flow on Young Circle.
His mission, he told city commissioners, was to transform Young Circle from a sea of asphalt into a safe, welcoming place for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. With the new design, the thinking goes, cars would slow down as they approach the roundabout to enter the circle.
“The signs, the lanes, the speeds, the curves are all setting up expectations of speed,” Lockwood said of Young Circle as it is today. “It creates anxiety and frustration.”
But don’t look for a change anytime soon.
The project, which requires approval from the county and state, would not be finished until 2022 at the earliest. One city official estimates it might cost about $7 million.
“We don’t have a plan yet, we just have an idea,” Commissioner Dick Blattner said. “The point is to move traffic more efficiently around the circle with less accidents, to slow traffic down. DOT has to weigh in. These things take time.”
Part of the plan would require the parcel on the east side of Young Circle, where Publix now sits, to be split to make room for a roundabout and give drivers heading to and from the beach more direct access to Hollywood Boulevard. As it is, Hollywood Boulevard does not link up with the circle from the east.
But if all goes as city leaders hope, the property would become home to twin towers with a connecting skywalk and a roundabout underneath.
“When you approach the circle from the east you see the back of the Publix and the loading docks,” Levy said. “It would be great to connect Hollywood Boulevard to the circle. Imagine standing in the ArtsPark and looking east all the way to the Hollywood Beach Hotel. It would be amazing.”