Re: Don't run the red traffic lights; you'll block the intersection, letter, Oct. 28.
Letter writer JoAnn Lee Frank is right in describing ongoing traffic conflicts on Fort Harrison Avenue.
If you've driven from West Bay Drive in Largo to Clearwater on Clearwater-Largo Road recently, you'll recall the trip is easy, with no traffic congestion. An easy trip, that is, until you reach Fort Harrison Avenue near the Clearwater city limit. That's where efficient four-lane traffic changes to a slow-moving, congested two-lane headache!
I thank Ms. Frank for recognizing and commenting on the Fort Harrison Avenue traffic problems. At the same time, I do not agree with her contention that "inconsiderate drivers" are wholly at fault.
I contend the root cause of the Fort Harrison Avenue traffic problem lies with the wrong-headed decision to reduce this busy and previously efficient north-south traffic corridor from four lanes of traffic to only two, with a center turn lane and some on-street parking. This bad idea has turned Fort Harrison Avenue into a slowly moving traffic jam for both northbound and southbound traffic between Pinellas Street to beyond Drew Street.
Complicating matters, drivers who wish to make left turns off Fort Harrison are often denied this option due to the extremely long and slow-moving lines of traffic, resulting in the "gridlock" Ms. Frank has accurately described.
I urge the Clearwater City Council members to abandon the Fort Harrison three-lane experiment for the previously more efficient four-lane traffic plan.
-- Paul R. Koenig, Clearwater
Cyclist needs lights for his sake and sake of drivers
There is a male bicycle rider who rides every morning on Seminole Boulevard in the dark hours. He has one very dim, small flashing light on the front of his chest and one very dim, small light on the back of his jacket. It is almost impossible to see the guy, who wears dark clothes.
Isn't it the law that his bike have lights in front and back? Doesn't he realize how easy it would be for him to get hurt or killed?
You wear a helmet, yet for the sake of yourself and others, please put the proper lighting on your bike! There would be a lot of grief and legal action for him and a driver of an automobile or truck should something ever happen, and riders like him need to realize it!
I hope an officer of the law sees him and people out there like him riding without proper equipment. Make them aware before it's too late. If they are warned and do not comply, then ticket them.
-- Diane M. Greenman, Largo
[Last modified November 2, 2005, 00:46:18]
