In exasperation, Starkey leg may rival Tyrone-Park
By JEAN HELLER
Published January 18, 2004
Pay close attention today because we're going to be jumping all over south county.
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Nobody likes traffic in the Tyrone area, but Mary Hadlock is more frustrated than most. She cites two problems: turning left from southbound Park Street onto 41st Avenue N; and turning left from Bay Pines Boulevard onto northbound Park Street, trying to fight through cars turning right from westbound Tyrone Boulevard onto northbound Park.
Mary suggested that all problems could be resolved by prohibiting the Tyrone traffic from turning right on red.
The state roadies say it can't be done. We got this explanation:
Prohibiting the right turns on red at this intersection would require right-turning vehicles to queue on Tyrone, adding to the congestion on this already crowded road and increasing the likelihood of rear-end collisions.
Further, when westbound Tyrone has a red signal, northbound Park Street has a green. Because of the volume of northbound traffic on Park, it is unlikely that prohibiting right turns on red from westbound Tyrone would greatly increase the number or size of gaps in traffic on Park Street north of the intersection.
When northbound traffic on Park Street is stopped, those westbound on Tyrone are turning right on a green light, so prohibiting those turns would have no effect. Based on these observations, the roadies' traffic operations division does not recommend prohibiting the right turns on red at this intersection.
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Good railroad news:
Beginning Wednesday, Pinellas County Public Works Engineering will be working with CSX railroad to rebuild the crossing on Starkey Road south of Ulmerton Road.
Bad railroad news:
Repairs will require a full closure of Starkey at the railroad crossing for about three weeks. CSX will be replacing rails and ties, adding and leveling new ballast and installing full concrete rail panels. Pinellas County will rebuild the road beds, improve drainage and repair sidewalks where necessary.
Southbound traffic will be detoured along Ulmerton to either Seminole Boulevard or Belcher Road. Northbound traffic will be directed to Seminole or Belcher on Bryan Dairy Road. All area businesses and residents have been notified of the road closing. PSTA and the Pinellas County School Board will reroute their vehicles accordingly.
Don't groan. Think how nice it will be when it's done.
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One of the most difficult projects the city has dealt with in recent months is the installation of reclaimed water lines along 62nd Avenue NE to First Street and north along First.
The original contractor walked away from the job, leaving a mess, and the new contractor has been forced to reduce the lanes along 62nd Avenue to one in each direction.
This was especially annoying when the traffic signals at the intersection still offered a left-turn option. Traffic got horribly stacked up behind left-turners who were forced to wait for gaps in oncoming traffic.
The city has now turned off the left-turn signals for the duration of construction and posted a bunch of signs notifying drivers that they can no longer make left turns onto First Street from 62nd Avenue in either direction.
We know it's a pain. It would best be solved by finding another way out of the neighborhood.
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A number of months ago, we cited the intersection of 54th Avenue S and 16th Street, right at Lakewood High School, as a hands-down Eyeball Jiggler of the Week. The pavement, especially on 16th Street, was more chewed up than a dog's bone.
No longer. We were through there last week and sometime in the intervening months the entire intersection has been repaved and smoothed out. It's beautiful now.
Thanks to the city roadies for saving stress on a lot of eyeballs.
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Where eyeballs still have problems:
Try driving north on Third Street N and then hanging a left onto Fifth Avenue. The past 50 yards of Third Street and the block of Fifth Avenue between Third and Fourth streets will jiggle your eyeballs and loosen your fillings.
Yikes, I said.
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A curious reader down south wants to know if the traffic signal at the Ceridian entrance on 34th Street S will ever do anything but blink yellow, particularly after the new Super Wal-Mart opens.
We asked Mike Connors, knower of all street stuff in St. Petersburg. Mike informed us that the state roadies put in the signal at Ceridian in anticipation that traffic volume would grow to warrant it. But it hasn't, so the light has been placed on continuous yellow blinking.
Whether the new Wal-Mart will increase traffic volume there enough to activate the light is unknowable right now. There will, undoubtedly, be an active signal somewhere in the area to facilitate Wal-Mart traffic.
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Driving south on First Street to 22nd Avenue N and trying to turn right on red, one encounters a terrible line-of-sight problem. A vehicle has to move forward all the way into the westbound lanes of 22nd Avenue to see oncoming traffic because of several large bushes planted in the city right of way between the street and the sidewalk just to the east of First Street.
Got hedge clippers?
- 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 33701.
