But persistent delays in the road construction project along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue have Salhab and other North Greenwood merchants wondering if they can afford the neighborhood facelift.

"It messed up my business," Salhab said Friday. "It just needs to be faster work."

The project, which runs between Eldridge and Fairmont streets, is months behind schedule. Crews broke ground in October 2001 with plans to wrap up the first phase last December. But unexpected snags with underground utilities forced extensions, meaning a section of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue was closed for almost a year. The remainder of the project is expected to begin later this year and finish by the end of December.

Starting in October 2001, detours routed traffic through the neighborhood. It wasn't until March 7 that the street was reopened.

"It's not something I'm real proud of," City Manager Bill Horne said last week. "It's something I have to look at in the future."

Horne blamed Clearwater contractor Steve's Excavating, saying crews were often diverted to other jobs, leaving the Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue project shorthanded.

"They took too darn long to get some of the work done out there," he said. "It's inexcusable."

Bill Hauenstein, project manager with the construction company, denied Horne's claim.

"That's way out of line," he said Friday.

Hauenstein blamed the city for dragging its feet on utility work. "We had to wait almost four months," he said.

For Salhab, the back and forth is frustrating.

"I don't know who I want to believe," he said.

Mostly, Salhab worries that the project's next phase, running from Palm Bluff Street north past his store to Fairmont, will drag on. Already, business has fallen off by a third, he said.

Down the street at Smith's Grocery, the story is much the same.

Manager Thomas Hinson pegged profits at 35 to 40 percent below normal. The rehabilitation of the North Greenwood Apartments also affected receipts, because many residents moved away during construction.

Long neglected by the city, North Greenwood has seen major improvements recently, with a new branch library and recreation and aquatic center. Hinson said he is pleased with the results, but he said the road project could have been managed more smoothly.

Especially with more input from merchants and people in the neighborhood.

Detours might have been better organized, he said, and it would have been helpful to keep at least one lane open. Ongoing streetscape improvements on Mandalay Avenue and construction on Drew Street have been disruptive to businesses in those parts of the city, he noted, but neither of those roads have been completely closed to traffic.

"There's a right way and a wrong way to do anything," said Hinson. "Some things are just a little common sense."

Public Services Director Gary Johnson said the city has tried cause the least inconvenience possible.

"With any construction project, ideally if you can close the entire road you can get the job done faster," he said.

And problems with the underground utilities couldn't have been predicted.

"That put us behind," Johnson said.

Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue is much narrower than Mandalay or Drew, Johnson said, meaning that keeping traffic open during construction there would have been much more difficult.

"We looked at that," he said. "We made sure that when we had the road closed that we did maintain access. The majority of the work happened between Palm (Bluff) and Seminole where there were no businesses."

The next phase should go much smoother, Johnson said, because the utility work is already finished. All that remains is landscaping and road resurfacing.

A contractor for the project has not been selected yet.

Hinson, whose store straddles the end of the first phase and the beginning of the second, said he hopes the finished product looks the same on both sides.

To the south, Hinson pointed to lush palm trees in landscaped medians. To the north, the road remains unfinished.

He jokes that his store has become a gateway.

"It used to be you know you're in the black neighborhood when you crossed the railroad tracks," he said. "Now all you have to do is pass Smith's Grocery."

-- Jennifer Farrell can be reached at 445-4160 or farrell@sptimes.com ">farrell@sptimes.com .

Back to North Pinellas news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

From the Times
North Pinellas desks