Thursday, June 27, 2002
Range War
Gainesville is home to Payne's Prairie, a gorgeous open air plain that follows a cycle from being a dry plain with small lakes and sinks, to wwetlands, and then to shallow lake. In the early 1900's, Steamboats plied the lake from North to South. They have now been replaced with two main roads - Highway 441 and Interstate 75. This has brought the prairie the dubious distinction of being the Florida park with the highest incidence of road kills.
Last year the DOT finished a project to protect wildlife by building massive culvert and wildlife passages under Highway 441. Although this has drastically reduced roadkills, it had an unforeseen side effect which could lead to tragedy. The widened edges of the Highway 441 noe serve as parking for hundreds of tourists a day eager to see the alligators. Rampant feeding of the gators (ILLEGAL) have led to a group of dangerous, snap-at-anything gators that could kill someone - not too farfetched as families now apparently go and stand at the wall edge and look down at them. Coupled with a road where the speed limit is 60mph and dozens of cars and bicyclists roaming the edges of the road, it's a major potential disaster (about four years ago, a car plowed into some five or six people on the road edge watching a meteor shower, and bicyclists are frequently hit on the stretch).
The DOT's solution - not more patrols or enforcements - a Fence! A large fence designed to discourage pedestrian traffic that now mars a perfect stretch of road and a beautiful vista! What happened to calls for a expanded bike and foot trail along the road, or more observation platforms? The DOT claims this is a short-term solution - we'll have to wait and see.
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