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Dr. Delay

No quick fix in sight for Bryan Dairy Road traffic

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published April 3, 2005

When Len Di Nardo moved to Seminole 43 years ago, a pig farm sat on the tract of land that is now occupied by Seminole Mall, and Bryan Dairy Road did not intersect with Belcher Road.

Di Nardo says the changes that occurred over the years are positive, but his driving headaches began "the day Belcher Road was made into a cross street."

The completion of the Cross Bayou Bridge over Lake Seminole worsened the situation. The addition of the interstate interchange east of U.S. 19 was the icing on the cake. Di Nardo wrote me recently to express his frustration about traveling on Bryan Dairy every weekday to his job at Honeywell.

"Don't get me wrong, I like the changes. But morning, noon or night there is always a big delay for east/west traffic. The county gives high priority to north/south traffic. Typically every morning, traffic backs up to Starkey Road and frequently into the Starkey Road intersection, and every once in a while, west over the Cross Bayou Bridge."

Even at midday, east/west traffic volume seems higher than north/south traffic. Di Nardo said that many evenings, rush-hour traffic backs up to the 66th Street overpass. "This causes hot tempers with people trying to merge onto Bryan Dairy Road from 66th Street," Di Nardo said.

The heavy traffic concerns Ken Jacobs of Pinellas County's public works department. County employees monitored the intersection last week and are working on balancing the traffic flow.

Jacobs said the bottom line is that the intersection is failing because it cannot handle the volume of vehicles traveling the corridor. He acknowledged that it sometimes takes several traffic signal cycles to get through some intersections on Bryan Dairy.

"Once the intersection gets to this point of failure, we try to make sure no one direction must wait longer than any other. This is what we have been evaluating for the past few days, and continue to work on. The ultimate solution to this situation is the upcoming widening project on Bryan Dairy between Starkey Road and 72nd Street. It is scheduled to start construction in 2008," Jacobs said.

A reminder to motorists that downtown traffic will be affected by the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg through early Monday morning, according to Robert Danielson, marketing manager for the city of St. Petersburg. Danielson said Second Street S from Fourth to Sixth avenues has been converted to two-way traffic, and the race course is closed to traffic for the remainder of the weekend. The course runs along First Street S from First Avenue S to Fifth Avenue S and Bayshore Drive surrounding Progress Energy Park and the Mahaffey Theater. Access to businesses along the race course on First Avenue S will be allowed via Second Street S.

Titan Cruise Lines has moved its Ocean Jewel operations from the Port of St. Petersburg to the Pier through Wednesday. Parking is available in Spa Beach Park entering through the Dolphin parking lot on the north side of the Pier approach. Passengers should check in on the main level of the Pier and board catamarans that take them to the Ocean Jewel.

Albert Whitted Airport will remain open though the weekend, with limited access, according to Danielson. The University of South Florida campus will be open, and access to the Coast Guard Station and Port of St. Petersburg will be available via Sixth Avenue S.

More on manholes: Reader Ed Blau is aggravated with the condition of the intersection of Pasadena Avenue and Central Avenue, especially since he has been driving through the intersection twice each day for the past 12 years.

"I have never been able to navigate that intersection in "safe mode' due to the necessity of trying to avoid lumps, bumps and cavities. I have no doubt that some of the recent accidents in that intersection are the result of drivers watching for and trying to avoid the holes, instead of watching for other traffic," Blau said.

Blau said he has complained repeatedly to the city traffic department but his complaints have resulted in the layering of asphalt patches on "previous patches of patches applied even before I became a resident in the area."

Blau said that repairs intended to resolve depressions in the roadways create new problems with lumpy repairs. "Roads are reasphalted without raising the manhole heads and stop boxes (for water shut off) are also not raised. The result is man-made depressions that many motorists, when seeing them in time, have to swerve to avoid the bump."

Kristen Carson of the Florida Department of Transportation said that the way to avoid lumpy roads is "good coordination between the utilities and the roadway contractors to reconstruct to the new finish grade and cross section." Carson added that the issue of manholes and valve boxes rests with the utility companies, as many of the patches in this particular intersection are the result of utility work.

"The problem with manholes are that they generally have a solid foundation as a structure and the flexible pavement slowly compresses and depresses below the fixed manhole. The patching material can raise the height and create humps. Thus the difference between a patch and a resurfacing of asphalt. In the concrete roadway construction we now grind the final surface to smooth the ride. This does have problems when the manholes are not adjusted, such as in front of Tyrone Mall," Carson said.

The $4-million DOT project to smooth the corridor in the Pasadena Avenue/Central Avenue area is under way and completion is scheduled for June.

Until next week, happy and safe motoring!

Please share your traffic concerns, comments and questions with Dr. Delay via e-mail at docdelay@yahoo.com

[Last modified April 3, 2005, 00:09:18]