CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect the crosswalks will be at the intersection of West University Avenue and Northwest 13th Street. This story previously incorrectly reported the crosswalks would be at the intersection at University Avenue and Southwest 13th Street.
Located on the outskirts of the university and situated between apartment buildings and restaurants, the intersection at West University Avenue and Northwest 13th Street sees 3,000 pedestrians every day during its busiest hours, according to a city of Gainesville study.
It's no surprise one of the most bustling intersections in the city is also one of the most dangerous, with 175 crashes occurring in the past five years.
To combat this, the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization on Jan. 5 approved plans for two new crosswalks: a raised crosswalk in front of the Publix at University Village Market on Northwest Third Avenue and a regular crosswalk farther down the street by Northwest Fourth Place.
The MTPO is a joint organization between Alachua County and the City of Gainesville that receives federal and state funds for transportation projects. The Northwest 13th Street project was a submission from the City of Gainesville and was the MTPO’s only proposal for the Florida Department of Transportation’s “Transportation Alternatives” grant program.
The program is used to fund small-scale transportation projects emphasizing non-motorized travel choices, like cycling and walking.
The MTPO does not yet have an estimate for when the grant will be approved. Moss predicts the city will hear back Fall 2026 at the earliest.
According to the project proposal and study, Gainesville identified the intersection of West University Avenue and Northwest 13th Street as within the city’s high-risk network area, with 86% of collisions involving a pedestrian or bicyclist resulting in an injury or fatality.
The project is estimated to cost $3 million, but if the grant is awarded, FDOT will reimburse the City of Gainesville throughout the construction process. However, the initial funds will come from Gainesville’s transportation budget. The city’s 2026 budget allocated $37.7 million to transportation.
While the project still needs grant approval before construction, Alison Moss, the Deputy Executive Director of the MTPO, said the design plans are almost finished.
“I'm under the impression that it's developed about 90%, which is effectively fully designed for an engineering project,” she said.
During the Jan. 5 MTPO meeting, airport representative Adrian Hayes-Santos and Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford suggested changes to design plans, including reducing or eliminating medians in an effort to reduce speeding. There’s still time to make adjustments to reflect the interests of the members, Moss added.
Moss said she thinks the crosswalks address pedestrians’ needs in a community-focused way.
“It's a real break from this old mentality where we would design streets and roads basically according to convenience for automobiles,” she said.
The new crosswalks align with the most convenient paths of desire for pedestrians, she added.
“If we want to eliminate severe and fatal crashes, we have to look at what people actually do, not what they should do,” Moss said.
The new crosswalks are also a part of Gainesville’s Vision Zero initiative.
The City Commission adopted a Vision Zero Policy in 2018 to conduct studies in areas of Gainesville that are most dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Gainesville’s Vision Zero Action Plan uses a variety of data collection and community input to determine how and where the city can make improvements.
“University and 13th has really been the central area that we have been trying to improve pedestrian accessibility,” said City Commissioner Bryan Eastman.
According to the city’s website, the Vision Zero program has identified and improved over 20 areas around Gainesville so far, including an upgraded bus shelter at Grace Marketplace and buffered bike lanes on Northeast 15th Street.
“If we design our roads better, and we make sure that it's better for all users, we can pretty severely, pretty intensely, reduce overall fatalities,” Eastman said.
Recognizing the 13th and University crossing as one of the busiest intersections in the city, some community members support the new crosswalks as a safety improvement — but also predict unintended consequences.
Traffic at that intersection has been a long-lasting issue. The intersection’s 2021 corridor study conducted by the City of Gainesville reported that vehicle capacity is both constrained by inconvenient infrastructure while still dominating the intersection and creating challenges for both pedestrians and other vehicles.
Angela Casteel, a 49-year-old Gainesville resident, mostly supports the crosswalks. However, she doesn’t think Southwest 13th Street can handle the traffic congestion they might create.
“The raised crosswalks are good but bad at the same time,” she said. “Do I see it being a little safer? Yes. However, it's going to create more congestion, and the way that the city is laid out just doesn't accommodate for allowing that.”
Contact Kaitlyn McCormack at kmccormack@alligator.org. Follow her on X @kaitmccormack20.
