From Palmetto to Maple Streets at 8 AM-sharp, Polk’s School Board plan for the closing of one block of Suwannee has been going smoothly, so smoothly that I’m happy to say that the foreboding of traffic jams on April Fool’s day was little more than gossip. It’s the first day of Suwannee no longer being used as a short cut by the piddling 1,000+ vehicles that use it to avoid Rts. 17-92; the first day of a traffic-slowing measure that didn’t cost the city a penny; and the first day that City of Davenport elementary will once again become the impetus for economic growth in the old downtown area.
Darhlene.com 
They didnt need to close the road in order to expand the school. There are too many northern whiners here who think they need to change the way things are done. Ive lived by the school 30 years, and people who have lived here a short time got their way without regard for what the REAL residents want. Traffic was terrible on Monday and Tuesday. Hope its worth it to them. Of course the ones who voted for it probably arent impacted by the closure. Thats how it usually works.
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You must live on the wrong side of the school. I live two blocks from the school and saw massively diminished traffic. Do you see yourself complaining about this issue at the next commissioners’ meeting? Hope to see you there!
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I wonder where all of the through traffic is going now. The people coming from Poinciana driving through Davenport to who knows where. I’ve seen a big increase on my street, East Palm. It was already bad from the out of town speeders going to the ball fields and now it is a lot worse. Also dangerous, most are speeding by, turning South on Miami and then to Powerline and home to Poinciana. The city needs to put speed tables on the 3 blocks of East Palm St.
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It sounds like East Palm got the short end of the stick with the school project. Speed bumps would be good, I guess. (They’re so irritating to have to drive over. Anyway …) What might also be a good idea is if the city takes a proactive approach to this school situation and does a city-wide traffic study; identify the problems now with a plan for implementation later.
For example, when I was head of the city’s parks/recreation committee, we submitted a list of recommendations to commissioners. One was to open a rear entrance to the ball fields to alleviate future traffic on East Palm. I don’t know if the city decided to implement this suggestion, but if you need to know, I believe Abel Gonzalez is the current chair of that committee.
City leaders need to recognize that the east side of Davenport is a traffic-open community, landlocked by the nature preserve behind us. Landlocked communities will always have traffic issues. However, if traffic is not controlled today, the quiet, residential feel of our east side will eventually be lost.
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The closing of Suwannee didn’t really impact us.
We are one block from the school and have seen less traffic cutting through; sorry, for the folks that are having difficulty with the issues. But the stop signs on Escambia have helped cutting the speedway that was about to become.
Although, I’ve seen a number of cars blow through the stop sign at Maple and Escambia. Hopefully no one gets hit by those who seem to be way too important, to be above, obeying the rules of the road.
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