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Neighborhood report

Bayshore Boulevard: Speed signs signal start of Bayshore changes

They are one recommendation by a task force with the mission of making the waterfront thoroughfare safer.

By JANET ZINK
Published June 3, 2005

New digital signs on Bayshore Boulevard serve as gentle reminders to obey the 40 mph speed limit. As cars cruise by, the signs flash the actual speed.

City officials installed the permanent signs last month along southbound Bayshore at Julia Avenue and northbound Bayshore at Alline Avenue. They are the first step in implementing recommendations made by the Bayshore Task Force.

Mayor Pam Iorio appointed the group of neighborhood and city leaders in early 2004 after jogger Melissa McKenzie was killed crossing the road during her morning run.

In December, Iorio budgeted $200,000 for task force recommendations. In addition to the speed advisory signs, the money also will be used to install sidewalks on the nonwater side of Bayshore between Bay to Bay Boulevard and Howard Avenue. That project should begin June 13 and take about three weeks.

The city will budget another $180,000 for task force recommendations in the next fiscal year, said Steve Daignault, administrator of Tampa's public works and utilities.

Developers whose projects will have an impact on Bayshore Boulevard are paying for other improvements.

Tampa General Hospital agreed to contribute $20,000 toward the Bayshore Task Force recommendations as part of its recently approved expansion plans. Four Green Fields owner Colin Breen will give $10,000 to offset impacts of his hotel project on Platt Street at Plant Avenue. And Crescent Resources has committed to chip in $20,000 as part of its proposed condominium tower at 319 Bayshore Blvd.

Developers citywide pay a transportation impact fee, but city officials also can ask builders to pay for specific improvements if their projects will have an impact on traffic, said Mahdi Mansour, deputy director of public works.

Officials haven't decided how they will spend the developers' money for Bayshore, Mansour said.

"All the monies will go into a fund and then we'll go through a selection process to see what's needed the most," he said. "Any improvement that is included in the Bayshore Task Force can be eligible for this money."

The task force also recommended installing northbound traffic signals and brick-paved crosswalks at the Bay to Bay, Howard and Platt intersections, and narrowing Bayshore from six to four lanes near downtown. Each would cost far more than the amount collected from developers.

City officials have applied for a $5-million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation to pay for the lane reduction, Daignault said.

Not everyone supports the suggested improvements.

"A lot of the provisions that they've asked for are causing the transportation network to fail," said Steve Michelini, a land use consultant working for Breen. "The end result is that this traffic that people complain about will be aggravated by the measures."

Steve Henry, the transportation consultant who worked on the Tampa General project, said at the hospital's rezoning hearing last month that reducing lanes on Bayshore near the Davis Islands bridge would increase congestion on Bayshore, making it an F-rated road.

Mansour said the improvements may indeed cause more delays on Bayshore. But the goal is to make the road safer, not faster.

"The recommendations that the task force committee came up with were studied thoroughly by staff," he said. "These improvements are appropriate. There will be less chance for severe accidents."

- Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 2, 2005, 08:00:13]