New San Marco Shared Use Path is Bumpy for Cyclists

Much to the chagrin of committee members at the December 17 meeting of the Bike Path Volunteer Committee at City Hall, city public works director Tim Pinter said that nothing either can or will be done about a change in construction methods that has led to bumpy riding conditions on the city’s newest shared use path, constructed with grant money from the Florida Department of Transportation.

Committee members are concerned because, despite their objections, the final section of the shared use path along San Marco Drive, from Marco Island Academy to Goodland Drive, is about to be constructed using the same methods.

Even FDOT’s Deborah Chesna, the Pedestrian Bicycle Planning Coordinator for Intermodal Systems Development, District One, supports the assertions being made by committee members.

“Oh, yes, yes, I totally agree,” Chesna said in a telephone interview. “I am absolutely in support. If you know there’s another methodology that works better, then that should be set in stone and put in the proposal advertisement so that the contractor knows what you’re asking for. Absolutely.”

At issue are the transverse contraction joints that are placed in the concrete slabs in the shared use paths to control random cracking. Contraction joints can be saw cut or tooled. Saw cutting provides a smoother surface for cyclists and other micro mobility users. On the other hand, tooled contraction joints are half inch wide, leading to a bumpy riding surface. The contraction joints are spaced approximately five feet apart, about the length of an adult bicycle, so cyclists constantly ride over the contraction joints.

Over 20 miles of shared use paths have been constructed on the island using the saw cut method. Only the 1.53 miles of shared use path along San Marco Road from Barfield Drive to the Marco Island Academy currently have the bumpier tooled contraction joints. For instance, the shared use path currently being constructed on Bald Eagle Drive is using the saw cut method.

Pinter said that the committee members’ input doesn’t carry much weight with City Council because they are a volunteer committee.

"You’re an ad hoc committee,” Pinter told committee members. "You’re just a bunch of guys who want to get together, you’re not a real committee under the eyes of the city council. That’s the nature of this. You did this to help the city. It’s been fantastic, what Al’s done, what you guys have done, all these years...$15 million worth of work.”

Al Musico is the longtime chairman of the committee that was formed in 2006. Most of the committee members have served since the committee was formed in 2006.

Pinter would like the committee to defer to Pinter's experience as an engineer and not interfere.

“This is my career,” Pinter said, "I go through these specifications with a fine-tooth comb. We have $22 million worth of work going on in the city for public works. And you know, this is $2.2 million worth of grant money that I’m not gonna lose by telling a contractor that he has to do a certain thing that he didn’t bid the project that way. I can ask anybody to bid it anyway we want to. But they’re still the final say in how they bid their work. You’re a regular bike rider. I’m a professional. I’m a professional engineer. I am licensed by the state of Florida.”

One longtime committee member objected to Pinter’s dialogue.

"You don’t have to be a professional to know that you've got a bumpy path,” the committee member said. "It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know you have a bumpy path. I am a licensed engineer too, by the way. Tim, you know the difference between a saw cut and a tooled contraction joint is a minor issue. You knew we had a problem after the first event. Why wasn’t that advertised? It should have been specified when the second bid was placed. That we prefer that. And I think they probably would have done that. We’ve ridden the paths elsewhere on the island and they’re fine. Now we’re going to say, ’That was so good, now we’re going to do it differently.' It just makes you wonder as a reasonable person.”

"When you’re building something new,” Jim Seegers, a longtime committee member added, "why do you build something when you know and are aware. I’m just a surgeon, I’m not an engineer. But I do know that if you cut the wrong place once, you don’t want to cut there next time. You want to learn from the past. This is what we call a flat learning curve. Yeah, you did it wrong, but we’ll continue it because nobody knows.”

“It’s the contractor’s choice of how he constructs them,” Pinter said. “It’s per the FDOT standards. We cannot tell the contractors means and methods. That’s against Florida state law.”

FDOT’s Chesna says that’s not the case.

“Yes, you can,” Chesna said when told of Pinter’s assertion.

Chesna recommends that cyclists let City Council know about the issue with the contraction joints in a public meeting.

“Definitely go to the city council meeting so it’s on record,” Chesna said. “Tell them that micro mobility users and bicycle riders don’t appreciate that constant groove.”

Examples of micro mobility users include rollers blades, people with scooters, baby carriages, as well as bicycles.

The next meeting of the City Council is scheduled for Monday, January 10, at 5:30 PM. The public is encouraged to address City Council on any subject matter not scheduled on the agenda during the Citizens’ Comments section of the agenda.