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Lights along Bryan Dairy need some fine-tuning
© St. Petersburg Times We have had more mail in the last month about the new Pinellas Park intersection of Bryan Dairy Road and U.S. 19 than on any other single subject. Not since all of you who drive through the crumbling junction of Pasadena and Central avenues in St. Petersburg vented your angst last year have we heard so many complaints about one location. First, we must say that everyone seems very happy to have the new east-west route through central Pinellas County, Bryan Dairy to 118th Avenue to Interstate 275. But using it isn't all it could be. The first batch of complaints we heard dealt with the length of the green arrows that control two left-turn lanes from northbound U.S. 19 to westbound Bryan Dairy and left-turn traffic from southbound U.S. 19 onto eastbound 118th Avenue. Not long enough, we were told. So we went out there to look, and the timing looked fine. The greens allowed all the traffic to clear both lanes. But, we were there in the middle of the day. Readers persuaded us to return during a rush hour, and we did. Sheesh! At 4:45 on a Monday afternoon, it took two cycles of the lights to clear one backlog of turning vehicles. We can only imagine what it must have been like an hour later. We agree. The timing of the lights should be reset to allow for longer greens during rush hours. The other complaint we heard was that the green lights for through traffic in both directions on 118th/Bryan Dairy were too short, too. And we got the full force of that problem, too. We watched through a half dozen light cycles, and without fail, cars and trucks ran the reds in both directions because the east-west green cycle is so short -- no more than 10 seconds. Without fail, there were vehicles racing through the intersection well after the lights had gone green for the north-south turning lanes. This is not a safe situation, obviously. The timing might have been okay when the new road first opened, but more and more drivers are discovering it, and as traffic gets heavier, the dangers will get steadily worse. State and county traffic gurus need to get together and take a look. We hope the lights will be retimed. We know the situation will be cleared up eventually when an overpass is built there and the lights go away, but that's a long way off. The county was wonderful about retiming the left-turn green from southbound 49th Street to eastbound 118th Avenue, and we hope the roadies will be as quick to address this problem. We thank you. Let's get to everybody's favorite feature, the Eyeball Jiggler of the Week, better known to its friends as the EJW. In the case of this week, it's plural. Northbound I-275, right lane under the 54th Avenue N overpass. The concrete next to the shoulder appears to have been smashed with a jackhammer. We're not sure how this happened, but if you catch your right wheels in this mess, it will loosen some fillings, not to mention jiggling your eyeballs. In the westbound lane of 11th Avenue S, just west of Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street, a big patch of asphalt has come up, exposing the brick street below. As we have said before, we prefer brick to asphalt, anyway, but in this case it creates a jolt for through traffic on 11th Avenue or for traffic turning right on to 11th Avenue from Ninth Street S. Good News Department: Along I-275 in both directions, the street lights that were dialed down to black by recent storms from 54th Avenue N northward have been restored. There are one or two isolated outages, but nothing major. Yippee! Bad News Department: For those of you who have had to deal with the slalom runs of traffic barricades along 62nd Avenue NE where part of the street is dug up, pipes are sitting on the grass to the north and nothing has happened for months, here's the skinny. The long-stalled project is to lay a 36-inch reclaimed water line along 62nd Avenue out to First Street and then north on First to 74th Avenue. This is great for those who live in the area who will finally have access to reclaimed water for irrigation. What is not so great is that it will be another two weeks before work begins. As explained to us by city water mavens, the delay was caused by the discovery of subsurface conditions that weren't anticipated, creating construction problems, and by the late delivery of some materials. When things get going in mid-January, the project will take about six months to complete. But fear not. No street will be torn up that long. It will be a rolling project, meaning the streets will be repaired and reopened as construction segments are completed. It's horrible now, we agree, but you'll thank the city when it's done. -- Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com , by fax at (727) 893-8675 or by snail mail at 490 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
