A corridor safety study is underway on Sorrento Road in southwest Pensacola. FDOT Traffic Operations launched the interim safety review after the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization formally requested it at its August 13, 2025 board meeting, directing FDOT to examine the stretch between Navy Boulevard and Gulf Beach Highway. Preliminary results were presented to the TPO board at its February 11, 2026 meeting at the Bayview Community Center.
The study is being conducted by FDOT's Transportation Systems Management and Operations program, with HDR staff supporting. FDOT TSM&O Program Engineer Amy DiRusso and Mary Morgan, P.E. of HDR are the primary contacts. The presentation to the board in February was informational, the study findings were shared with the board and stakeholders but did not require a formal vote or trigger any immediate action items.
Sorrento Road runs through a southwest Pensacola residential and light commercial area adjacent to NAS Pensacola. The corridor connects neighborhoods west of the base to Navy Boulevard, SR 295, and then south to Gulf Beach Highway, one of the primary surface routes used by military and civilian personnel commuting to and from the base. Traffic volumes on both Navy Boulevard and Gulf Beach Highway are significant, and the intersections at Sorrento Road have historically generated community concerns about speeds, sightlines, and pedestrian crossings.
Interim safety studies of this type typically assess crash history, geometry, speed data, and signal timing to identify whether engineering countermeasures, signal improvements, medians, turn restrictions, pedestrian infrastructure, could reduce crash frequency or severity. The study does not necessarily result in capital projects, but findings that identify a clear safety issue typically generate recommendations that feed into the TIP process for future funding.
The fact that the TPO made a formal request to FDOT for the study in August and received a presentation seven months later indicates the agency is treating it as a genuine problem-finding exercise rather than a routine check-the-box review. Whether preliminary results identified actionable issues, specific crash patterns, geometric deficiencies, speed compliance problems, has not been publicly detailed beyond what was presented to the board in February. A public records request to FDOT District Three or the Emerald Coast Regional Council would surface the full presentation and any interim findings.
The next FL-AL TPO meeting is May 13, 2026, at 9 a.m. at Bayview Community Center. FDOT contacts for the Sorrento Road study: Amy DiRusso at (850) 330-1241 or Amy.DiRusso@dot.state.fl.us; Mary Morgan, P.E., HDR, at (850) 429-8932 or Mary.Morgan@hdrinc.com.