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Bayside migraines to ease March 4

The turn lanes off Roosevelt Boulevard are expected to open then. Next up: getting the traffic lights in synch with rush hour.

By CHRISTINA K. COSDON
Published February 21, 2005

Drivers trapped in nightmare bottlenecks approaching the Bayside Bridge on Roosevelt Boulevard can expect major improvements starting March 4, when the new bridge turn lanes are to open.

"I'm going to say we should be complete in two weeks from today," Bonnie Moore, the Florida Department of Transportation's project administrator, said Friday. "As soon as the lanes open, you're going to notice a difference in the traffic."

The $2.3-million project modifies the intersection of Roosevelt Boulevard at 49th Street, creating new turn lanes for eastbound and westbound traffic turning north onto the Bayside Bridge.

Construction began last May but was interrupted when Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne "devastated the project," Moore said. The damage took a particular toll on work to widen the bridge across Cross Bayou Canal, just west of the intersection, to accommodate new turn lanes. The storms pushed the projected completion date of last November to this month.

All that remains to be done, Moore said, is a second striping of the new lanes and a two-week testing of the ramp light signals.

Timing of the signals for motorists exiting the bridge and driving west weekday mornings will be adjusted for rush hours, Moore said. "That's where our backup on the bridge comes from," she said. "We hope, with the timing on the signals, that will be alleviated."

The project included widening the ramps to accommodate two new right turn lanes for westbound motorists driving from Roosevelt Boulevard onto the bridge, and an additional left turn lane for eastbound bridge traffic.

One of the right-turn lanes is open now, and the second is to open March 4.

A DOT daily traffic count in the area in 1999 was 45,500 vehicles. Moore said Friday the count is now at least double that figure.

In a separate but related project, Pinellas County supervised the realignment of nearby Fairchild Drive to make room for the new westbound turn lanes. Fairchild now connects with the entrance road to St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. A traffic signal at the previous Fairchild entrance on Roosevelt has been removed.

The county's $777,594 project also included relocating and rebuilding a section of the service drive that goes around the airport and accompanying fencing. The job is complete except for some road striping and cleanup work, said Dave Reed, chief inspector of the project for the Pinellas County Construction Administration.

The work is expected to come in under budget, Reed said, but final figures aren't in yet.

[Last modified February 21, 2005, 01:32:19]