I've heard from several of you asking about the status of the wastewater project that was scheduled to take place - with some serious disruptions in traffic - at Fifth Avenue N and 66th Street.
There were signs there cautioning drivers that the project was coming, and then suddenly they were gone without any activity.
Here's why. I pointed out when I first wrote about the project that it was a strange time to be scheduling it, so close to the Tyrone shopping area with Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa fast approaching.
Local merchants apparently reached the same conclusion wa-a-a-y ahead of me.
So the city of St. Petersburg, in its infinite wisdom and not exactly deaf to the needs of the Tyrone merchants, has postponed the project until after the first of the year, Jan. 19 to be specific. Informational signs will begin appearing Jan. 5.
Good for now. Not so good for later.
You'll want to return that tie with the hula dancers and the Freddie Krueger sweater as soon after the holidays as possible to avoid the congestion that the sewer work will cause.
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We have railroad crossing news.
All of you who live in or travel through Pinellas Park know by now that work has begun to repair the most notoriously treacherous rail crossing in the county, on 62nd Avenue N just west of 49th Street.
Huzzah.
Others are in the offing around the county. To wit:
Beginning Monday, the intersection of Coachman and Old Coachman roads in Clearwater is scheduled to close so that CSX Railroad and Pinellas County Public Works can rebuild the crossing. Preliminary work started last week.
The closing is supposed to last 30 days. The state roadies will set up detours around the intersection.
CSX will replace rails and ties, adding and leveling new ballast and installing full concrete rail panels. Pinellas County will rebuild the roadbeds and do drainage and sidewalk repair where necessary.
We mention this one on the theory, as yet unchallenged, that many of you in south Pinellas County who read this column occasionally venture north.
Further - we say further - repairs also are scheduled to begin on the CSX crossings at Starkey Road south of Ulmerton on Jan. 19, and Enterprise Road east of McMullen-Booth Road on Feb. 9.
These are the only ones I know about, so please don't write in asking about the other two dozen crossings in the county desperately in need of work. The timing is all up to CSX.
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Danger, Will Robinson!
Last week, the state roadie contractors began daytime repaving of U.S. 19 from 49th Street N to Park Boulevard in both directions between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Egad, what a mess. But thankfully, it won't last much beyond the end of this week.
The traffic moved through that area like glue on a Maine February morning recently when I went to check it out. And I was in the area about 11 a.m., not exactly the teeth of the rush hour. If you can find a way around U.S. 19 for the next week or so, do it.
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While we were in that area, we wanted to check out a couple of other matters that readers called to our attention.
One of them is the left turn from U.S. 19 onto Gandy Boulevard headed east. Mine was the next to last car at the back end of the left-turn lane, and it took three cycles of the light to get through. That's ridiculous, if you don't mind my saying so.
It used to be that the left-turn signal would at least empty the turn lane, if not some of the traffic backed up behind it into the left through lane.
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Two readers, Lewis Wilcox and Caleb McCane, wrote to ask us to check out the left-turn signal from eastbound Gandy Boulevard into northbound Grand Avenue, the first controlled intersection east of U.S. 19 and one entry into Gateway Center.
Both Lewis and Caleb complained that the left-turn signal has gotten impossibly short, leading to a great deal of red-light running.
So I sat on the grass beside Gandy and watched through several cycles, and here is what I found. There are two left-turn lanes from Gandy to Grand. When the turn signal was red, both lanes filled up. When it turned green, the cycle lasted six to seven seconds and left several cars, which had been waiting to make the turn, stranded until the next cycle.
This happened through four complete cycles, and I did see quite a few cars run the red, including, I might say, a Florida Highway Patrol unit.
Shame, shame!
I made a U-turn (legally) and came back through the intersection traveling west. The left-turn signals this way are at least four seconds longer.
Hmmmm. Seems like something for the roadies to check on.
And we thank you.
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Some quick news about a recent Eyeball Jiggler of the Week. I gave the award to the southbound lanes of Interstate 275 from 54th Avenue N down to the 38th Avenue overpass.
There are potholes everywhere, some aspiring to grow to the size of mini canyons.
The state roadies, bless their peapickin' hearts, have scheduled repairs for next week.
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Next week I'm going to travel around south county between Central Avenue and Pinellas Point and highlight some of your street problems there. I know you're thrilled.
- 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.
