FAMU Way: Now Open!

About the Project

FAMU Way, a project more than 10 years in the making, has reached a pinnacle milestone, as the roadway connection to Lake Bradford Road is now complete. City of Tallahassee and community leaders, joined by area residents including long-time Citizen Advisory Committee members for the project, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 30, to celebrate the milestone and officially open the road to traffic.

During the design and planning stages, it was often said that FAMU Way would be the most beautiful road in Tallahassee. Completed in three phases, this project transformed a roadway with a deep ditch running alongside it into a safe and functional corridor, designed to accommodate multiple modes of transportation. The project extended FAMU Way from Wahnish Way to Lake Bradford Road and created three roundabouts, wide sidewalks, a multi-use trail connecting to the St. Marks Trail, a community gathering place at Lake Anita, a children's playground, landscaping and much more.

Through collaboration with Florida A&M University's History Department, stories about the history of the area were collected from past and current residents. These memories were incorporated into a historical narrative that now serves as a guide for the History and Culture Trail project being coordinated by the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, which will recognize the area's history in physical form along the corridor.

While the final phase of the roadway is complete, work in the area will continue with Blueprint projects in the works to enhance stormwater drainage adjacent to the road, construct a new skate park and add other amenities along the roadway. The City is currently in the design phase of a proposed project to extend the corridor upgrades along the existing portion of FAMU Way from South Bronough Street to South Monroe Street.

Background

At the direction of the City Commission, staff embraced the challenge of designing the extension of FAMU Way from Wahnish Way to Lake Bradford Road so that it not only meets the transportation needs of the community, but so that when completed, it is one of the most beautiful roadways in Tallahassee. The City engaged area residents and FAMU University throughout the design process while also working to minimize impacts to environmentally sensitive areas, historical neighborhoods and adjacent businesses and the University.

The original extension of the FAMU Way alignment was based on citizen feedback and approved by the City Commissioner in spring of 2010. In May 2012, the City had to modify the western segment of the route due to the fact that CSX railroad would not permit an at-grade crossing included in the original plan. This new alignment routes FAMU Way on a southwesterly course west of Pinellas Street and will connect to Gamble Street and follow Gamble Street until it meets Lake Bradford Road. In addition to being a more cost-effective option, the new route was actually the most preferred by citizens who participated in a survey that was conducted to get community feedback and was later approved by the City Commission.

Since the inception of FAMU Way Extension and due to its proximity to Blueprint's Capital Cascades Trail (Segment 3), the projects have been running on parallel tracks with the goal of delivering one seamless construction contract. The combined project has been segmented into several construction phases and is sequenced so as to deliver the improvements in a westerly direction, starting with the Van Buren Pond at Martin Luther King Boulevard and ending at Lake Bradford Road. This phasing will also allow us to begin construction sooner on the easterly segments while concurrently completing the design and right-of-way acquisition associated with revising the alignment of the westerly segments.

FAMU Way History

On October 15, 2015, the City of Tallahassee published a Historical Public Survey of the neighborhood and culture surrounding FAMU Way

From the earliest stages of the project, the City has been committed to recognizing the history of the area along FAMU Way. Through interactions with the community, stories emerged of resilient neighborhoods, civil rights advocates and leaders and hard-working families. In 2015, the City contracted with FAMU history professors to capture and share these stories with a goal of incorporating them into the FAMU Way Project. Dr. David Jackson, along with Drs. Reginald Ellis, William Guzman and Darius Young with the History department at Florida A&M University (FAMU) collected information from area residents and produced a historical survey that tells the story of the people, places and events that have helped shape the community.

Download the FAMU Way Historical Survey

To learn more about the research team who worked hard to create this survey, download our Biographical Sketches companion document.

Photos: Photos pulled from the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

FAMU Way E-News

Thank you for your interest in the FAMU Way Extension Project. Among other channels of communication, we offer a series of email updates designed to keep you informed and engaged. You may subscribe to receive updates on this project via email:

• Go to the email notification service page.
• Fill in the required information.
• Be sure to check the box labeled FAMU Way Extension Project: News and information on the FAMU Way Extension project

For questions or additional information about the FAMU Way Extension project, please contact the City’s Communications Department at 850-891-8533.