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Dr. Delay

Unaligned lanes likely to change

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published September 25, 2005

Patience and caution are required for folks who travel First Avenue S, a road that continues to be a work in progress. With that said, what is the deal with the oddball lanes on eastbound First Avenue S at 16th Street?

A reader alerted me to the sudden appearance of a left lane, which, in her words "takes a sudden curve to the right, just over a slight hump, making this whole thing appear quite suddenly. This is my daily commute, and I see drivers every day caught by surprise, drifting either right or left, especially those who are not familiar with this strange situation."

I asked Michael Frederick, manager of the city's neighborhood transportation department, and Frederick checked with the design engineers on this one.

"The issue is that we're going from a three-lane profile with parking to a four-lane profile without parking. Therefore, as you traverse the intersections, the lanes do not line up. This is compounded by the fact that each leg of the intersection was marked as part of two separate projects. Engineering is now working with our contractor that installed the bicycle lanes on the First Avenues (north and south) to make various final modifications. While this offset meets standards, it will be included in the review for final alterations to be implemented," Frederick wrote in an e-mail last week.

The pain of gasoline prices is resonating with all of us, and especially with folks who are on the road all day.

I heard from a reader awhile back who drives for a living and spends a lot of time tooling up and down U.S. 19. He and his six co-workers deliver auto parts all over the county and they shared the same aggravation with the lack of synchronization of the traffic lights on 19 beginning at 19 and 54th Avenue N.

Here is part of the e-mail: "In a four-mile stretch there are 10 stoplights that are almost impossible to hit on green. If stopped by a red light at 54th Avenue North you can expect to be stopped at 58th Avenue North, 62nd Avenue North, 66th Avenue North, 70th Avenue North, at the intersection of 19 and Park Boulevard, at the intersections at Wal-Mart and the Mainlands, and at 110th Avenue North and 118th Avenue North."

He also noted that to fuel his frustration, there was no east-west traffic queued up at some of the intersections in question, not to mention all the gas he was wasting with needless stops and starts.

The e-mail was passed along to the Florida Department of Transportation, and the DOT worked with the county to get traffic moving more smoothly. The county is responsible for maintaining the traffic signal timing at these intersections, although U.S. 19 is a state roadway. The two agencies recently developed a new timing plan for this section of U.S. 19. Part of the plan involves the installation of a new computer system that should go online soon and improve the management of traffic flow. But adjustments have been made in the meantime.

Our reader is pleased. In an e-mail last week, he wrote: "I had three trips just today and sailed along at the speed limit without a stop on two of them, the third trip was late in the day, but then still I had only one stop at Park Boulevard and that was because of heavier traffic. As we all are independent contractors and have to pay all our own expenses, including gas, of course, all those stop and goes were unneeded expenditures. Thanks for your help."

One more note on the topic: Reva White of the county's traffic control department told me that with the upcoming re-opening of the mall in Pinellas Park, plans are under way to deal with increased traffic around the area.

"We are working on installing different plans for three separate times of day, Monday through Friday and a new plan for Saturday and Sunday. We are prepared to monitor the volumes and traffic patterns at the intersections that may be directly affected by the mall and modify the timing as necessary," White said.

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 September 25, 2005, 02:15:40]