TAMPA - Every day, Bayshore Boulevard's broad sidewalk attracts hundreds of walkers, joggers, bikers and others.
The adjacent road attracts cars. Lots of cars.
On Tuesday, the mix turned deadly, re-emphasizing concerns about safety along the corridor.
A motorcyclist hit and killed 39-year-old Melissa McKenzie at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday as she crossed Bayshore Boulevard near El Prado Boulevard. According to a preliminary investigation, William Napier was driving about 80 mph, double the 40 mph speed limit.
"We need to make the whole area safer for pedestrians and motorists," said Anna Thomas, a board adviser for Hyde Park Preservation Inc. "We are hoping to get the residential community engaged in a discussion with the city about how to make it work."
The cement trail runs about 4.5 miles from Platt Street to Gandy Boulevard along the mansion-lined waterfront in South Tampa. Users must cross Bayshore Boulevard to access the trail.
Therein lies the problem.
Bayshore is a major artery into and away from downtown Tampa, attracting between 30,000 and 45,000 drivers a day, depending on the location, according to data from the city's transportation department.
The northern stretch is six lanes wide in parts and has narrow medians or none at all. The southern part, where Tuesday's crash occurred, has four lanes and wider grass medians.
The entire corridor has only four traffic lights. Crosswalks are rare. Speeding is common.
"People use the road like a highway," said runner and biker John Vandersea, who uses the trail about three times a week. "I always stop and look three times before crossing."
Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said officers regularly patrol the road and frequently use speed traps. He described Tuesday's crash as a "horrific accident" brought on mostly by excessive speed.
He encouraged both pedestrians and drivers to obey the laws and pay attention.
"Given the number of pedestrians and the amount of traffic, the number of fatal accidents involving pedestrians is extremely low," Durkin said.
The statistics back up the claim.
At the location of Tuesday's collision, the city recorded just four crashes from November 2000 to October 2003. They were all minor and none involved a pedestrian.
Just one nonmotorist was killed in a traffic-related incident in the entire corridor in 2003, a bicycle rider hit in June when a motorist jumped the curb near the overpass to Davis Islands. An investigation found that the driver missed the turnoff but was not speeding. After the crash, the city restriped the crosswalk and made it bigger.
The only other fatal traffic crash in the corridor last year occurred in August, when 33-year-old Christi White was struck while trying to make an illegal left turn from Magnolia Avenue onto Bayshore. Prosecutors have not announced whether they intend to file criminal charges against Gable Yerrid, the 16-year-old behind the wheel of the speeding SUV that hit her.
The city is studying possible changes to improve safety at that crash site. One option is closing the median to prevent drivers from making illegal left turns.
The city also recently improved the intersection of Bayshore and Platt, creating a median to naturally direct traffic. The $36,000 project also added crosswalks to help pedestrians who are walking downtown to the Bayshore sidewalk or the nearby Publix grocery store.
Thomas said she would like plans to includes encouraging drivers to use other routes, ones with less pedestrian traffic, such as the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway. Driving studies have shown that many Bayshore drivers are passing through on the way to and from Gandy Boulevard and Pinellas County, a route serviced by the Crosstown Expressway.
- Times staff writer Richard Bockman contributed to this report. Graham Brink can be reached at 813 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com
