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Seminole to improve dangerous junction
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN SEMINOLE -- Harry Grassberger is used to the noise. Screeching tires. Metal hitting metal. Wail of sirens. He says he has heard the sounds a lot in the three years he has lived at the northeast corner of Old Ridge Road and 102nd Avenue N. Long known as a trouble spot for motorists, the intersection has been the scene of numerous accidents, including a fatality last year. It was that death that spurred county and city officials to make the intersection safer. Now, nearly 15 months later, changes finally are coming. "This is something that, gosh, we started months ago," Mayor Dottie Reeder said Tuesday at the City Council meeting where funding was approved for the $30,000 project. Workers will install a right turn island, a concrete separator, striping, tubular markers and traffic signs. Work may begin as soon as next month. "That's good," Grassberger said of the new design. "I'm glad to see they're doing this." Here are the changes: Install a directional left-turn median on 102nd Avenue. The median will be a raised concrete island. Eliminate the through and left-turn movements on Old Ridge Road and force northbound and southbound right turns only. Install flexible poles on the west and east sides of the intersection to separate eastbound and westbound traffic and to channel westbound traffic turning right. In addition to the left-turn median, workers will install a right-turn island for westbound traffic turning right from 102nd Avenue onto Old Ridge Road. Now, when westbound vehicles approach the intersection in the right-hand turn lane, some abruptly move into the left lane, jamming traffic and confusing motorists. The concrete median would eliminate last-minute lane changes. The intersection was the scene of about five accidents in January 2001. That was enough to prompt Grassberger to voice his concerns at City Hall. "And then two days later -- wham!" Grassberger said. Adeline Openlander of Largo died Jan. 24, 2001, after her Buick was struck by a Lexus sport utility vehicle. Mrs. Openlander, 75, was driving south on Old Ridge Road when she was hit by Beverly Loebel, who was headed west on 102nd Avenue. At first, county officials said they would improve the intersection by installing a median to prevent motorists heading north or south on Old Ridge Road from making left turns onto 102nd Avenue. But the county reneged, saying traffic control was the city's responsibility. The two governments squabbled, and eventually Seminole relented, agreeing to improve the intersection. State law requires counties to construct and maintain their own roadways, but municipalities are in charge of traffic-control devices such as signs, signals and markings. "It's a hard pill to swallow when it is the city's responsibility to improve two county roads," said City Manager Frank Edmunds. Council member Janet Long was frustrated at the county's and state's lack of financial help, especially because 102nd Avenue will be part of a new east-west corridor linking several existing roads -- 102nd Avenue, Bryan Dairy Road and 118th Avenue N -- to give commuters a straight shot from the Intracoastal Waterway to Interstate 275. "It's just a little bit of a mind-boggling thought here that the state and county aren't accepting some of the responsibility," she said. The county is planning to widen 102nd Avenue, but not until 2007 or 2008. Officials say traffic on the road has increased dramatically during the past few years, partly because of Lake Seminole Bridge, which opened in 1994. And Thurston Groves, a new subdivision being built on the northwest corner of the intersection, will bring more traffic to the area. Grassberger, a retired engineer, says traffic on 102nd Avenue is extremely thick about 4 p.m. on weekdays. He says getting his mail from his curbside box is scary. "You keep your eyes on the cars," he said. In other news, the City Council unanimously voted to continue its franchise agreement with Peoples Gas Systems, a division of Tampa Electric Company. The council also accepted the final design and plans for the joint-use library, a project shared by Seminole and St. Petersburg College. A groundbreaking ceremony will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the school's Seminole campus, 9200 113th St N.
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