PANAMA CITY BEACH — Dee Gibson and her neighbors in the Bid-A-Wee community frequently drive their golf carts around their neighborhood and are hoping to use them to travel out of it through a new golf cart crossing across Back Beach Road (U.S. 98).
The residents would like to legally drive the carts through the intersection of Nautilus Street and Back Beach Road and have asked the city whether it could become another designated golf cart crossing.
Gibson said they like the open-air feeling of driving the carts, and they’ll often drive them across Front Beach Road and park them on the beach.
“They save money on fuel,” Gibson said. “You are also out in the open more. It’s beachy, a lot more fun. I would be all for the city putting golf cart trails throughout the city so we can get around without getting near the highway.”
The city will be making an application to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) after conducting a traffic study of the intersection, but at least one city commissioner has reservations about the idea.
The crossing would allow the residents to drive their carts across Back Beach Road to the Nautilus Station plaza, which has a Carrabba’s restaurant, Beef ‘O’Brady’s, a UPS store and other businesses.
“We’d definitely support that crossing. It would be great,” said Gibson, who is secretary of the Bid-A-Wee Beach Park neighborhood association.
The crossing would allow golf carts to travel in the regular lane of traffic across the road when the light turns green. New lanes would not be created, but a sign would inform drivers about the golf course crossing.
Officials comment
The carts would be like any car driving across Back Beach Road, said CRA Manager John Alaghemand. “They would have to queue like any car at an intersection. When the light was green, they would have to cross. They are not allowed to drive on the sidewalk.”
In a memo to City Manager Mario Gisbert dated Oct. 17, Alaghemand states that golf carts are increasingly used to make short trips for shopping, social and recreational purposes from nearby residential neighborhoods.
“These passenger-carrying vehicles, although low speed, offer a variety of advantages, including comparatively low-cost and energy-efficient mobility,” he writes.
Alaghemand adds in his memo that in response to a growing public interest in using golf carts, FDOT has established criteria and guidelines for safe operation of golf carts on authorized portions of the state highway system.
Alaghemand said in a telephone interview Wednesday that the city likely would need to get a variance on one of its crossing conditions for the new crossing to come to fruition. The city will have to conduct a traffic study to determine whether the crossing is necessary before FDOT can make a decision on the application.
One of the issues studied will be whether the traffic light timing needs to be changed.
In 2012, Panama City Beach became the first city in Florida to receive permission from the state to create a designated golf course crossing across a major state highway at Back Beach Road and Pier Park Drive.
Panama City Beach City Councilwoman Josie Strange brought forth the residents’ request for the Nautilus Street crossing.
“Panama City Beach is supposed to be pedestrian-friendly. That is our goal,” she said. “I guess the biggest thing is that the residents feel so much has been taken away from them with the traffic” on Back Beach Road.
Councilman John Reichard said he has safety concerns about the crossing and pointed out that it would only allow residents to get to a small shopping center that is not even fully developed.
Reichard said he could see the logic of the crossing at Pier Park Road, as it allows cart drivers to get from Pier Park to Palmetto Trace and Frank Brown Park.
He said he also is concerned the timing of the traffic light at Nautilus Street might have to be changed to accommodate the golf carts.
“That light already shut downs Back Beach Road when it changes to red now,” Reichard said. “I’m concerned the light would have to be retimed and traffic would have to sit there longer.”