Sumter County commissioners said Tuesday night they are done trying to solve traffic problems on Morse Boulevard north of County Road 466.
Their comments came two weeks after members of The Villages Amenity Authority Committee (AAC) refused to act on a $2.4-million plan to improve golf cart safety.
Instead, AAC members decided to press the county to lower the speed limit and install stop signs or travel control devices at more intersections.
At the AAC meeting, Commissioner Deb Butterfield said she would bring those ideas to the county.
“Speed, in my opinion, has been the excuse (for the AAC) not to take action,” she said Tuesday night. “Stop signs should not be used for speed control.”
The AAC is responsible for amenities north of CR 466.
Butterfield said she met with county traffic engineers and researched statutes.
Morse Boulevard is classified as a minor arterial road like county roads 466 and 466A and she said the existing speed of 30 mph is appropriate.
Butterfield said the plan offered by Kimley-Horn could improve safety and that the AAC’s inaction should end the county’s involvement in the issue.
County Chairman Don Wiley agreed.
“We have much more important things to do with the money we have for our roads,” he said.
Butterfield spearheaded the effort to find a cost effective plan to improve safety on the boulevard, where golf carts and cars sometimes tangle.
The plan would have been funded by a $7-million settlement with the Developer, which was a reimbursement of reserve funds.
Over the past five years, 42 golf cart crashes have been reported on Morse Boulevard. Thirty involved turning movements.
The Kimley-Horn plan called for moving golf cart paths off the roadway at most of 13 intersections, crossing side streets before returning to the roadway as they do in many Villages neighborhoods.
At the gates near CR 466, the southbound path also would be routed away from the road and carts would cross two lanes near the gates instead of making left turns. The median space would allow two carts to wait.
The plan would reduce carts turning on and off the boulevard.
Another $1.5 million would pay for widening and a two-foot striped barrier between the golf cart and vehicle lanes.