Mobile Tours
The best feature of the 2022 Gulf Coast Safe Streets Summit is the hands-on experience. Conference registrants can choose between six mobile tours. After registration, keep an eye out for the Mobile Tour Registration email.
SunTrax Facility Tour:
Located off I-4, SunTrax is a large-scale, cutting-edge facility being developed by the Florida Department of Transportation and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, dedicated to the research, development and testing of emerging transportation technologies in safe and controlled environments. The tour participants will see how connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are tested, advanced and readied for full-scale public deployment. The space is limited to 30 participants and the tour bus will start from RP Funding Center for the SunTrax Facility.
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Complete Streets Walk and Talk:
Let us walk and talk!
Come join safety experts and planners for a half-mile complete street “Walk and Talk”. As we walk along the route, the tour will feature a “hands-on” assessment of the streets near the RP Funding Arena. In small group facilitated discussions, tour leaders will ask you to consider the street from multiple user perspectives. For example, what is your perspective of this street? Would your perspective change if you were 8 years old or if you were 80 years old? What did the street designers get right and where is there room for improvement? The tour will feature stopping points along the route to assess context, safety and comfort for all residents. Wear comfortable shoes, bring your sunglasses and let’s walk and talk!
Roadway Safety Audit
Tour participants will be guided on walking tour of a neighborhood, to learn how a roadway safety audit is conducted by safety experts using a readily available checklist. They will point out what they notice that is safe, or which a community would consider fixing, as far as sidewalks, lighting fixtures, curbs, intersections and similar things. Closed-toed walking shoes are recommended.
Come Drive the Bus
Have you ever envisioned yourself driving the bus through the city streets? In this activity tour participants will be allowed to drive a Citrus Connection bus, at the Citrus Connection training facility. There will be always a CDL-Licensed Citrus Connection Driver (or supervisor) on the bus. The space is limited to 30 participants and the tour bus will start from RP Funding Center for this activity.
Westgate-Central Neighborhood Tour
Participants will tour the Westgate Central Neighborhood and surrounding areas west of Downtown, where community engagement and partnerships have resulted in significant investments to improve transportation infrastructure. Neighborhood residents can now walk and bike to work, shopping and recreation destinations and projects such as the Westgate-Central Trail, Ariana Street Sidewalk and upcoming Wabash Avenue Enhancement mark important steps in creating a walkable/bikeable neighborhood for existing and new residents.
Tour participants will wait for the Squeeze at the Springhill Suites stop near RP funding center. along the Squeeze’s regular route – The route runs a total of 22 minutes. regular stops will be made at Lemon St. and Kentucky Ave, showing the parklets there and move on to the stop at the Joinery.
Parklet and Traffic Management Center Tour:
Take a ride through Downtown Lakeland on the Citrus Connection’s The Squeeze circulator to see the new “parklets” that expand dining areas for people in areas previously dedicated to the automobile. Participants will then visit the City’s Traffic Management Center, where many of the City’s 174 signalized intersections are monitored throughout the day. The tour includes a ride around the north side of Lake Mirror, where much of a former State Highway was removed to create a premier public space that has been the centerpiece of Downtown Lakeland’s re-vitalization efforts.