U.S. 19 drivers look for place to turn

Well-intentioned extra right lanes leave drivers wondering what they're for and give speeders more options.

By ED QUIOCO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 20, 2003

[Times photo: Jim Damaske] A driver waits at a new directional median along U.S. 19 north of Alderman Road in Palm Harbor.

Those new channelized medians on U.S. 19 get a thumbs-up from everyone: commuters, cops, highway designers, politicians. Everybody says: They work.

But it's a far different story for the miles and miles of new outside lanes.

Motorists are confused. Are the lanes for through traffic? Or just for drivers turning right?

And the speeders! They zig and zag into the outside lanes to pass slower cars.

By last week, sheriff's deputies had seen enough. They started cracking down on those speeding in the new lanes.

But other solutions still are needed to make the outside lanes user friendly.

Traffic planners are rolling up their sleeves.

"The idea is to go over the whole thing," said Pinellas planning director Brian Smith. "People have been calling us up confused, not knowing what to do."

The state Department of Transportation spent a total of $11.2-million on the medians and outside lanes. The improvements, which stretch from Countryside to Tarpon Springs, were supposed to make the heavily congested highway safer and make traffic flow better.

As soon as it can, the DOT will launch a study to determine how drivers are using the continuous right-turn lanes, DOT spokeswoman Marian Scorza said. The goal: to see if any changes are necessary.

The county's Metropolitan Planning Organization, which focuses on transportation systems, also will study the new lanes.

Turn lane or through lane?

The lanes, on both sides of the road, cost $5.9-million. They run from Republic Drive, just north of Countryside Mall, to Tarpon Avenue. Gone now are hard-to-figure, hard-to-drive sporadic turn lanes that punctuated the highway's edges.

The idea was to help unclog traffic by adding two more lanes to the six-lane highway. The new lanes also were meant to give drivers a continuous turn lane.

The problem is: The new lanes seem to have confused some motorists, who are unsure whether the lanes are through lanes or turn lanes. The answer is: both.

The state refers to them as an "added lane that's predominantly used for turning right," Scorza said. "If you wanted to use it not as a turn lane, you can do that knowing people who are in that lane are usually going to turn somewhere."

But what seems to be happening is that drivers are using the new outside lanes to pass slower traffic.

"At first, people weren't sure what it was for and they were staying out of it," said community service officer Toni Gugliotta, who patrols U.S. 19 and the northern end of the county for the Florida Highway Patrol. "But now, as I'm driving on 19, I'm noticing more people starting to use it, and the ones using it are the ones who are speeding or using it to pass, and it's not a passing lane."

Residents say it is difficult to merge into the new lanes because of the speeding cars. Some also say they are scared to slow down to make a right turn because they are worried about getting hit from behind.

"It obviously moves traffic faster, but I think it's at the expense of safety for the people who are traveling in that continuous right-turn lane and people trying to access U.S. 19," said Terri Whetzel, who lives in the GlenEagles subdivision.

"It makes it very, very dicey," said Dan Pennisi, 67, who lives in the Highland Lakes subdivision off U.S. 19.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, after hearing complaints from residents, decided to step up traffic enforcement last week. Deputies ticketed drivers speeding in the new right-turn lanes, said Detective Tim Goodman, a sheriff's spokesman.

"If you want a ticket, then get in that right lane and speed on through, because they will get you," Goodman said.

Deputies hope ticketing drivers will discourage them from speeding in that right lane and make it easier for others to merge into the new lanes.

"When you pull into that lane, I'm telling you, you better be on the gas and go or you won't make it because someone will catch up to you quick," Goodman said.

The new lanes were designed to curb cars from weaving in and out of traffic, which is what was happening with the intermittent turn lanes. Drivers went into a turn lane thinking they could use that lane to make a right only to realize that the lane ended before the turn they wanted to make.

Wouldn't signs help?

Some drivers wonder why the state didn't install "right turn only" signs on the lanes so motorists would know how to use them. The DOT placed such signs only at the major intersections at Curlew Road, Tampa Road, Alderman Road and Tarpon Avenue.

"At other locations, you are not forced to make a right turn, so that's why it's not signed at those locations," Scorza said.

There are so many side streets on U.S. 19 that it would be difficult to put "right turn only" signs at every side street. Besides, she said, doing that may create the same situation as before: intermittent turn lanes.

Drivers should never assume that a car is going to turn right just because it is in the right lane, Scorza said. For one thing, "they may not turn at the location you think they are turning at."

Pinellas County Commission chairwoman Karen Seel, who has crusaded for safety improvements on U.S. 19, said drivers should be patient with the changes. Faster traffic also should avoid using the right-turn lane, she said.

"I want to strongly urge people that they really should not be using them as a through lane," said Seel, who spearheaded a task force on U.S. 19 improvements.

The confusion has resulted in at least one accident.

This month, Courtney Schoenfeld was driving north on U.S. 19 and was waiting to turn left into the Innisbrook subdivision to visit her mother. Schoenfeld saw a Honda Accord heading south on the new outside turn lane but assumed the oncoming car also was turning into the subdivision.

So she figured she had enough time to make her turn.

But the Honda wasn't turning. It smacked into the front of Schoenfeld's Ford Tempo. Both cars were totaled. Schoenfeld, 22, was cited for failure to yield right of way.

She said the continuous turn lane was a big factor in the accident.

"The worst part about it is people just don't seem to know about it," Schoenfeld said. "I'm just glad my kids weren't in the car."

Medians give protection

The other improvement on U.S. 19, the directional median openings, generated more compliments than complaints. Medians have been reworked from Sunset Point Road to the Pasco County line.

"I think they are probably the best thing that has happened to U.S. 19," said Tarpon Springs city Commissioner Peter Nehr, a vocal critic of the continuous turn lanes.

The goal of the new median channels is to stop the jumbled mess of cars piling up on the openings while waiting to merge onto U.S. 19.

The $5.3-million reconfigured medians also force motorists to make a right turn when entering the highway and then heading a block or so down the road to make a U-turn. That prevents drivers on side streets from making dangerous left turns to get onto U.S. 19.

Before, cars piled up on the medians and were pointed in every direction, residents said.

"Nobody knew who was going and who wasn't," said Whetzel, who lives in the GlenEagles subdivision off U.S. 19. "It was like a free-for-all in the medians. Now at least that's under control."

-- Ed Quioco can be reached at 445-4185 or quioco@sptimes.com .

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

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