Tampabay: Longer streams of commuters cross county lines

"There was this piece of property that had been in my wife's family for a long time, and she didn't want to sell it," said Babb, a St. Petersburg police detective whose wife is a judge. "Our thinking was that we would live there and commute down here together and spend some quality time. Then she promptly moved her job to Dade City, and I've been making the drive alone for 10 years."

Babb passes the drive time by listening to oldies radio stations and takes comfort in the fact that he sees a number of Tampa police cruisers making similar cross-county commutes.

In fact, he has lots of company.

According to statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of commuters who live in one county and work in another rose significantly over all of the Tampa Bay area between 1990 and 2000. It rose particularly in Pasco County, where new developments that serve as bedroom communities to Hillsborough County are going up faster than gasoline prices.

"There are all sorts of reasons that people are willing to put up with long commutes," said Steve Polzin, director of transportation demand management for the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation. "Folks want to live at the beach, or they want to get away from the center city for lower costs, lower crime and better schools.

"This is not a new phenomenon. People have been moving away from the core cities for centuries, as soon as they have opportunity and means."

Among 418,000 workers age 16 or older in Pinellas County in 2000, more than 360,000 stayed in Pinellas to work, according to the census. Another 44,000 worked in Hillsborough, 5,300 in Pasco and nearly 1,500 worked across the Sunshine Skyway bridge in Manatee County. The number of cross-county workers from Pinellas increased by more than 27,500, or 8.3 percent, over the decade.

Among Hillsborough County's 471,000 workers, nearly 420,000 had jobs near home. More than 25,000 crossed over to Pinellas for work, 8,400 commuted to Polk County and 6,100 to Pasco. The number of workers crossing county lines went up by more than 46,000 between 1990 and 2000, a surge of 12.3 percent.

Among Pasco's 131,000 workers, 71,000 stayed near home for jobs. But 45 percent went to other counties, including nearly 32,000 to Hillsborough, more than 21,000 to Pinellas and more than 3,400 to Hernando County. The number of commuters leaving Pasco each day jumped by 12,600 over the decade, up 21.5 percent.

Hernando County's 43,000 workers cast long nets for jobs, too. Nearly 29,000 stayed in their home county, but more than 6,600 drove to Pasco, 3,600 to Hillsborough and 1,500 to Pinellas. The number of workers who left the county rose during the decade by more than 7,000, an increase of 32.4 percent.

Citrus County's 38,000 workers largely stayed home. Although more than 29,000 work where they live, more than 3,000 drove to Marion County for work and 1,500 to Hernando. Exported workers rose by more than 5,000, or 20.7 percent.

The information on how many people leave to go to work, along with dozens of other demographic categories, comes from the long-form census survey of about one in six households nationwide. The survey results are subject to some sampling error.

One of the surprises came in Manatee County, where developments are burgeoning at the south end of the Skyway bridge. Of a work force of 111,000, 82,000 stayed near home, nearly 22,000 went south to Sarasota County, and only about 5,000 came north into Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. The number of exported workers rose by more than 17,000, or 26.5 percent.

There are 10 counties among the state's 67 that export more workers than they keep. The most serious imbalance is in Wakulla County, where almost 60 percent of the workers leave each day. Others are Clay, Gilchrist, Jefferson, Glades, Union, Santa Rosa, Liberty, Bradford and Baker counties.

Some of these imbalances will correct themselves over the next decade, especially in places like Pasco County, Polzin said.

"New Tampa is an example of that," he said. "When it first developed, it was all residential. Now business parks and offices and other commercial enterprises have come to the area, drawing workers from those residences. That will happen in Central Pasco, too, as commercial development follows the housing patterns."

When people are asked why they are willing to give up two or three hours of their lives each day to the highway, the answer usually has something to do with loving where they live and where they work and a willingness to sacrifice to keep both.

"It's incredibly time consuming, no question, but I do it because of the job, which is so exciting and rewarding," said Jeanne Lambert of Apollo Beach, in Hillsborough County. She commutes an hour each way to her job as chief of marketing for the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. "If it were just a normal job, it wouldn't give me enough incentive.

"I looked at property down here, but in the end, I love Apollo Beach, and I didn't think it made sense to move from where I have such great friends and neighbors."

Lambert spends the morning commute making a list of things to do during the day. She spends the evening commute listing to Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who has made a radio career of ironing out messed-up lives.

"Listening to other people's problems makes me feel better about my life," Lambert said.

For other commuters, it's just a matter of getting used to the trip.

Jim Leroy has been commuting from northeast St. Petersburg to Tampa for four years as stadium operations manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"I live on the water, and I love my house, so I don't mind," Leroy said. "Besides, I worked at Harbour Island for years before that and commuted on the Crosstown. I'm used to it."

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