LAS OLAS IS GETTING LONGER

This is a brilliant idea here and it deserves some mention. If you are not familiar with this place Las Olas Blvd., it is basically Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. All the office buildings are here and on the adjacent streets, and there are tons of small shops and restaurants. I worked here from 2001 to 2003 and absolutely loved it despite the 45 minute commute (one way) . I walked to lunch almost every day and there were/are tons of bars and restaurants within walking distance and many of them feature waterfront dining on the New River. There is only one lane of traffic each way on Las Olas, and at night it is very slow moving. There are tons of people walking around, going here and there and it has a great feel to it. It has a real urban feel, with the ability to walk around and many high rise apartment buildings on the outskirts. But this two lane traffic area is only for a few blocks, from 2^nd to 12^th Ave. After that Las Olas opens to 4 lanes and cars can pick up speed. The area here really noticeably drops off in terms of retailers and restaurants as a result. They just don’t get the amount of foot traffic volume as the people in the 2 lane area. So for only $200,000 - $400,000 Ft. Lauderdale is going to convert 3 more blocks going East (to 15^th St.) to 2 lane traffic. It is an inexpensive way to extend the whole scene another few blocks which will vastly improve things for the merchants and residents there. Ft. Lauderdale seems to be rolling 7s these days, and this is just one example. I secretly hope that their mayor Jack Seiler will move to Palm Beach County and become the mayor of Boca Raton at some point soon. Not that it is so bad here, but you know what I am saying. They just keep making a good place better and set an example for all the other neighboring cities and counties to follow. This live work thing is slowly catching on here in South Florida, and it is happening with more projects having bicycle paths, and clustering many uses so people can walk to them. Now if we could just figure out some mass transit it would really accelerate things for the whole region.

Slower traffic could extend Las Olas Boulevard's village atmosphere

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-02-11/news/fl-fort-lauderdale-las-olas-narrowing-20140210_1_las-olas-boulevard-traffic-congestion-broward-boulevard