Here's an interesting new word in the traffic-calming vernacular: chicane. A chicane is a concrete device that squeezes a roadway to slow traffic. To see a brand-new chicane, check out the ones installed last week at 22nd Avenue S and Second Street. And many thanks to Mike Connors at the city of St. Petersburg for patiently explaining the ins and outs of chicanes to me.
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To Richard Smith and his fellow drivers who have been suffering with the rough patches left on 38th Avenue N between 49th and 58th streets after the recent utility project, good news: The rough patches that went in over the utility cuts in the pavement will be removed and the road smoothed over within the next three weeks.
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Tyrone Boulevard travelers may have noticed that southbound drivers at Ninth Avenue N have a new turn arrow at the intersection for left turns (east). Mike Connors tells me that this is referred to as a "protected turn signal" and that it was installed after a study conducted by the state DOT indicated that it was needed. Before, motorists could turn on a green light if there was no oncoming traffic, but someone at the DOT thankfully decided this is a safer plan.
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Jim McPoland noticed that the traffic signal at the intersection of 62nd Avenue N and First Street just doesn't seem the same after the recent utility project was completed in that area. Well, Jim, you're right. According to Mike Connors, the signal was indeed changed to synchronize with east/west traffic and the light at Fourth Street N. This is to accommodate the increased volume of traffic on 62nd Avenue and does add about 50 seconds to north/south travel time, Connors says.
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Here's one we may want to file under the "sorry we asked" category: A reader wrote that she's wondering what the story is with some barricades that have been placed around two manholes on 40th Avenue NE and Walnut Street.
Mysterious green tubes are protruding from the open manholes. The barricades have been up for some time, and she never sees workers there when she drives by on the way to the Shore Acres Recreation Center every day. Well, it seems the green tubes are transporting "sanitary sewage," a situation necessitated by the dredging going on at the 46th Avenue N canal.
"A very shallow sanitary sewer line was discovered under the canal when the dredging started," Mike Connors said. The bypass was rigged up in case the dredging barge damages the sewage line in the canal. The dredging, and therefore, the green tubes on 40th and Walnut, will be around another 30 days or so, Connors said.
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Pavement Pogo: Commuters traveling Ulmerton Road near the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport can't help but notice the lumpy, bumpy road. One reader describes the bumps as "enough to jar the fillings out of your teeth."
The state DOT has that stretch of road scheduled for repaving beginning in the fall of 2005. Kristen Carson of the DOT told me that the entire repaving project will be from 49th Street (County Road 611) to Roosevelt Boulevard, and the anticipated completion date is sometime in 2006.
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Two large projects are slowing traffic on U.S. 19 and generating a lot of questions from motorists who commute to north county about the approximate timetables for completion.
The $30-million interchange project at U.S. 19 and Drew Street that began in 2002 should be completed by the end of 2005. The $46-million interchange that will run from Coachman to Sunset Point roads began in April of 2003, and the projected completion date is the fall of 2006.
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The new Bright House Center at the Carillon Office Park will no doubt add to the flood of traffic trying to get into the complex during morning rush hour.
Workers for Road Runner have already begun to move in to the new regional center. Wanda Hayes-Riddick, community relations manager for Bright House, says the move-in will be done in phases, bringing a total of about 1,000 employees into the new center by the spring of next year.
Some of that additional traffic will include Bright House trucks. A few anxious readers are wondering whether there is a plan to manage the increased traffic volume into the complex, which to date has but one lane for incoming traffic. Ken Jacobs, manager of signal operations for Pinellas County, says that "there is certainly the possibility" that his department will look into the traffic flow in that area.
And another interesting bit of information, this area is kind of a Bermuda triangle of roadways.
"This is one of those situations where the road outside the complex (Roosevelt Boulevard) is the responsibility of the Florida DOT, but the county takes care of the maintenance, and once you're inside the complex itself, you're in St. Petersburg, so addressing traffic issues is a cooperative effort between agencies," added Jacobs, who said he is happy to conduct a study of current traffic flow in that area and evaluate the numbers.
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Pinellas Bayway bridge update: The update is that there really is no update. Folks waiting for the construction of the new and improved Pinellas Bayway bridge to commence, don't hold your breath. According to Kristen Carson, the one and only construction company that submitted a bid for the project was nearly $12-million over what the state DOT had in mind for the project, so the bid was rejected.
The construction company has filed a protest, and the appeal process is, well, in process. "We want a competitive bidding process," Carson said. "And we can't have a rebid until the appeal process is complete." It's all a process.
Until next week, happy and safe motoring!
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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.
