Every Monday through Friday, he drives about 20 miles from the mid Pinellas beaches to the northeast edge of the county, near the Hillsborough County line.

But rather than face the hoards of traffic on U.S. 19 or West Bay Drive, Rives, like many other north Pinellas County commuters, has mapped out a series of shortcuts.

Unlike many savvy motorists, he is willing to share his secret route.

"I tried the Bayside Bridge and I tried U.S. 19," Rives said. "The route I have now is much faster."

Rives' preferred commute winds him north on Indian Rocks Road, east to Myrtle Street and east again to Douglas Avenue. He stays on Douglas Avenue through downtown Dunedin to SR 580. He then heads east to Oldsmar and turns north on Commerce Boulevard to his office at Oldsmar's Municipal Services Building.

"I'd say it saves me at least 10 or 15 minutes each way," he said. "It's weird, but the traffic on Myrtle goes away after you drive south through downtown Clearwater."

Drivers here in Florida's most densely populated county are well aware of the frustrations of commuting, and traffic is always near the top of residents' concerns. As major roadways such as U.S. 19, Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard, McMullen-Booth Road and Bay Drive become more and more congested, commuters have discovered some creative ways of avoiding the traffic. But their tactics anger some homeowners, who do what they can to make their neighborhoods less attractive to drivers looking to shave a few minutes off the morning commute.

Old Coachman Road is a popular north-south alternative to the more congested main routes in mid Pinellas County. The two-lane road winds its way from Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard to north of Sunset Point Road, where it intersects with Belcher Road.

Gary Whipple has lived on Old Coachman Road for about six years. He too enjoys using the route to travel to the Countryside area, but he said so many people use it that it needs to be widened so it is better equipped to handle traffic, especially at rush hour.

"This road gets really backed up sometimes," he said. "I've seen traffic backed up from Northeast Coachman all the way to south of the little bridge (about half a mile)."

Alt. 19 near Dunedin is another north-south route that gets long lines of traffic during rush hour. Some drivers, frustrated by sitting through light after light, discovered they could turn east onto one of the side streets off Edgewater Drive and connect to Douglas Avenue, which is far less congested.

That didn't sit well with folks who live along the cut-through.

"People would become angry at the long lines and they would drive angrily down our street," said Betty Hampton, who has lived on Aberdeen Street near Edgewater Drive for the past 32 years.

After receiving a number of complaints from residents, the city of Dunedin installed street signs prohibiting right turns between 4 and 6 p.m. on Aberdeen and President streets, two of the most heavily used shortcuts between Edgewater Drive and Douglas Avenue.

Since the signs were installed last year, residents appear to be satisfied, according to City Manager John Lawrence.

"The signs have helped a lot," he said. "I don't think we've received any additional complaints since we put them up."

Traffic signs are just one way engineers attempt to control commuter traffic through residential areas. In Clearwater, frequent stop signs have been used to control the number of drivers using Harn Boulevard as an east-west shortcut between U.S. 19 and Belcher Road.

For some, that has spoiled a perfectly good shortcut.

"The stop signs are so frequent I don't even use it as a route through the neighborhood anymore," said Bill Murray, who has lived in Morningside for 24 years and is president of the Morningside/Meadows Homeowners Association.

Murray lives on the corner of Nursery Road and Stewart Boulevard at the south entrance to Morningside. He has also seen many drivers use Stewart as a shortcut between Nursery Road and Harn Boulevard for years.

"They come barreling around the corner at 45 miles per hour," he said. "One girl even drove into my yard and took out my mailbox."

The city of Clearwater has been working with Morningside and the Meadows homeowners to install additional traffic calming measures such as speed humps and signs. One of the first measures will be to paint parking stripes along Harn Boulevard about the width of a car from the curb.

"The main function is as a traffic slow-down," said Paul Bertels, Clearwater's traffic operations manager.

Those neighborhoods are on a priority list, along with several others in Clearwater, for traffic calming measures, but they probably won't receive additional deterrents for several years, Murray said.

The North Greenwood and Skycrest neighborhoods are first on the city's priority list based on the number of accidents that have happened there, Bertels said.

Murray has resigned himself to sitting in traffic when he drives through Pinellas County.

"I keep saying, before long the traffic here is going to be like Manhattan," he said. "It took me a half hour to get to the Publix up the road (just north of Druid on Belcher) this week."

Karen Seel has worked on a number of transportation projects since she joined the Board of County Commissioners in 1999, but she hasn't found a really good shortcut from her Countryside home to her office in downtown Clearwater.

"I usually go straight down Belcher to Cleveland," she said. "Unless I hit a red light at Sunset Point. Then I turn and go over to Hercules."

Seel has been working with the Florida Department of Transportation to design a traffic system utilizing intelligent signs along four corridors in Pinellas: U.S. 19, Ulmerton Road, Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and McMullen-Booth/East Lake Road. The FDOT should begin construction in 2003 and complete it in 2004, Seel said.

The intelligent signs warn drivers of an accident or other traffic delay and point out an alternate, and hopefully faster, route.

"I am truly excited that we are finally getting some alternate roads constructed, improving U.S. 19 and making progress on an intelligent traffic system," she said. "It's got to make it easier to get around."

Driving in Pinellas

Do you have a shortcut you'd be willing to share? Are you angry that your street is used as a shortcut? Do you know of speed traps you'd like to warn others about? Fax your ideas to 727-445-4206 or e-mail to church@sptimes.com. Please include your name, phone number and e-mail address so we can contact you.

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