Dear Mr. Cerlanek,

I am writing to you as a cyclist, a motorist and as a concerned citizen of Alachua County. I often cycle on SW 170th Street, going from Newberry Rd to Archer and the condition of the roadway has deteriorated at an alarming rate to the point it is no safe for cycling and is damaging to motor vehicles. I am attaching a group of photos taken which by the way; only represent a small number of the locations along that stretch of roadway that is in serious disrepair. I didn't want to burden you with hundreds of photos, just wanted to provide a handful which are representative of the condition.

The fact is that many, many cyclists are using SW 170th Street, heading south from the Jonesville area and the deep ruts and numerous large, deep potholes present a serious danger. It is far past the point of just not being comfortable to ride. When cyclists approach broken asphalt or deep holes, they try desperately to avoid going into them. In doing so, they most of the time need to move further out into the portion of the roadway used by motor vehicles. This presents a danger of being struck from behind and also by forcing an approaching motor vehicle to move to the center or cross the center line to not hit the cyclist. Alternatively, if the cyclist doesn't move out into the roadway and hits the deep holes, it can cause loss of control of the bike and can toss the cyclist into the roadway in the path of that approaching motor vehicle; that being a result that is even worse.

It is a known fact that once a roadway deteriorates to this roadway's current condition, that the rate of further deterioration become exponentially greater over a short period of time. It is therefore urgent that Alachua County take action to resurface SW 170th Street to avoid possible fatal accidents which might occur due to the deteriorated condition of the roadway. Please note that there is no bike path on this roadway segment.

Also, if there are any other roadway users who see this e-mail and would like to add their own comments, please click 'reply all' and provide your comments.

Thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter, I remain

Sincerely,

Michael Steinberg
Jonesville area resident
Alachua County citizen
Gainesville Cycling Club member