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Intersection signal makes Carrollwood Springs giddy

Residents celebrate being able to cross Dale Mabry to shop. And they thank Commissioner Jim Norman.

By TIM GRANT
Published March 6, 2005

NORTHDALE - A gang of happy residents from the Carrollwood Springs subdivision held a grand opening celebration Monday at the new lighted intersection of Zambito Road and Dale Mabry Highway.

Some of them piled into a convertible driven by County Commissioner Jim Norman and were the first to cruise through the traffic light.

"You know you've done a good project when they show up in masses to thank you on it," said county spokesman Steve Valdez.

Along with "Thank You" signs they brought with them, one of the people gave Norman a TV remote control so he could pretend it was the magic wand to activate the traffic signal.

"I was just glad I didn't hit anybody or make anybody fall off that car," Norman said.

Norman has championed the Zambito Road project for about 10 years, going back to when it was an old country road that intersected with Dale Mabry farther north of the new intersection in a Y shape.

With the old intersection, which is now closed, motorists had to look in front, to the right and behind them all at once before they could proceed onto Dale Mabry.

"That's pretty dangerous, if you ask me," Norman said.

People in Carrollwood Springs can feel safer now walking, biking and driving across Dale Mabry to the Wal-Mart shopping plaza in front of Zambito Road. There's also a lighted pedestrian crossway on Zambito Road leading to the shopping plazas farther north.

The project took so long because after Wal-Mart came in, the only way to realign Zambito was to go north of the shopping center property and through a retention pond, requiring lots of environmental negotiations with the property owners.

"Wal-Mart is a great company, but it was hard," Norman said. "I could not get anybody in charge to make changes like that. I went up the chain of command."

The result is a four-way fully signalized intersection paid for by a public-private partnership.

The businesses on the northwest corner of Dale Mabry and Carrollwood Spring Boulevard paid $80,000 toward the traffic signal as part of their development agreement. The county paid $1.5-million for the roadwork.

"It's going to make the lives of an awful lot of people up there a lot safer to do their normal shopping," Valdez said. "Now they can actually walk to the shopping center and not be taking your life in your hands."

-Tim Grant can be reached at 813 269-5311 or at grant@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 5, 2005, 08:12:04]