New sidewalks are being built in the coming months along the stretch of the drive they have been traversing in their wheelchairs on treacherous trips to stores and doctor visits.
With a $1.6 million state grant, the county has hired BCL Civil Contractors to install sidewalks on
Steve Padgett, one of more than 50 disabled residents in Gibb Gulf Coast Village on North Lagoon Drive, said he’s nearly been hit by vehicles on Thomas Drive as he steered his wheelchair to area stores in the narrow bike lane.
“Many times, it’s happened just going to Winn-Dixie,” he said.
One resident was knocked out of his wheelchair by a vehicle numerous times and lived to tell about it, Padgett said.
“One guy ended up in the ditch three times,” he said. “One time, he had the chair up on top of him. People hit him from the back side.”
Padgett said he steers his wheelchair against the traffic flow so he can see if a vehicle is veering into the bike lane. That way, he said, he has a slight chance of lunging out of the chair to avoid being hit. Occasionally, he said, he’ll hold his breath as vehicles with drivers who are distracted start to veer slightly toward him into the bike lane.
His wife, Mary, who is a paraplegic, said she steers her wheelchair in the same direction as traffic because there would nothing she could do if a car were about to hit her.
“I want my back” to traffic flow, she said. “Just hit me and get it over with.”
William Whittaker, also in a wheelchair, said the sidewalks are long overdue.
The former semi-truck driver said his wheelchair trips to the store are more treacherous than the runs he used to make.
“To get to Publix, we have been going up on the shoulder of Thomas until we get up into Winn-Dixie,” he said. “Then, we start cutting through the parking lots over back across to Publix. And then, if we have a lot of groceries, we might to come down through the turning lane in the middle of the road to get the groceries back. It’s very, very dangerous.”
Roy Dahl, who also is wheelchair-bound, said he was elated that sidewalks are being built.
“I think it’s the best thing that ever happened to us because we really need it,” he said.
Pam Dorwarth, a disability rights advocate who lives in the community and also uses a wheelchair, led the lobbying effort to get the sidewalks. She did the same thing in
“When I first moved here, I realized that you didn’t have any sidewalks and how dangerous this was, and has been for some time,” she said.
Four years ago, she solicited letters of support for the sidewalks from local businesses.
“I went out and got all the petitions of the proprietors — the banks, the grocery stores — saying how important this was,” she said.
The complex is in the unincorporated area of
“The funding has always been here, but you had to get on the [priority] list for them to even consider you,” she said. “The county engineers came out. They didn’t even know this complex was here.”
The sidewalks are being installed along
“We are going to put in a sidewalk on