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Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element Florida Department of Transportation and the Indian River County Land Development Regulations need to be closely adhered to. In the future, the county should continue to review on-site traffic flows, access driveways, and new roadway connections during the site plan and subdivision approval process. The County's land development regulations provide the basis for these reviews. In addition, the land development regulations outline guidelines for minimum parking requirements, adequate storage bays, spacing and design of median openings, and driveway and spacing access. Any amendments to the county land development regulations need to be consistent with this element of the IRC Comprehensive Plan. Hurricane Evacuation As indicated in the existing conditions section of this element, the existing hurricane evacuation system in the County is adequate. With the recent widening of SR 60 west of I-95, the roadway evacuation system has been further improved, and travel and delay time has been reduced. According to hurricane evacuation studies, the hurricane evacuation system will continue to be adequate through 2030. Generally, a clearance time of 12 hours is considered acceptable for hurricane evacuation, although the lower the time the better. Besides the hurricane evacuation studies, other analyses have addressed future year evacuation needs. As a component of the SR AIA Corridor Study, future evacuation conditions for the County's south barrier island were analyzed using buildout conditions and conservative assumptions. That study determined that, with one recommended improvement, evacuation clearance times will be acceptable in the future. That improvement, adding one lane on SR AIA from Seagull Dr. to 17th St. (Causeway Boulevard), is now underway and is expected to be completed by 2010. In addition, a Wabasso Causeway Study determined that north barrier island evacuation times will be acceptable at buildout without any major roadway improvements. The focus of that study was the causeway, itself, and the analysis indicated that the causeway would not need improvement by 2020. There are several reasons why hurricane evacuation clearance times will remain adequate through 2030. Most of these reasons are land use related. First, the barrier island portion of the City of Vero Beach is primarily built out; the Town of Indian River Shores is mostly built out, and the unincorporated south barrier island area is nearing build out. Second, the north portion of the barrier island is developing at much lower densities than allowed by the 1990 comprehensive plan. Not only are some large projects, like Windsor and the Town of Orchid, developing at only about one unit per acre, but the County, the state, and the federal government have purchased hundreds of acres on the north barrier island for conservation purposes. This land will have zero density. Community Development Department Indian River County 82