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Dr. Delay

Road projects aplenty to slow holiday traffic

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published November 20, 2005

Gather round and get comfortable, weary motorists, this is the week of the ongoing road work saga. Which saga, you ask? Well, there's the Walsingham Road saga and the Duhme Road saga and the Pinellas Park/78th Avenue saga.

There is also the bizarre bridge cleaning project off Bay Pines Boulevard, but that is not really saga-worthy because it has only been ongoing for about three weeks. But it wins my vote for weird road-related project distinction because it looks, well, so weird.

The overpass bridge has been draped with a gothic-looking material that looks spooky - especially at night - and conjures a scene from a vampire movie. It really looks like a place where Dracula would love to hang out. That project will be done in about two weeks.

My e-mail inbox has been overflowing lately and I think it may be because the holidays are rapidly approaching. Readers are anticipating spending more time on the roads, as well as the arrival of visitors who might be confused by detours. So they want to know about some of the seemingly finite road construction projects in the area.

The Doc has decided to do a round-up of a few that are driving many of you crazy:

WALSINGHAM ROAD: This project, from east of Oakhurst to 119th Street, is a Florida Department of Transportation widening effort that has been ongoing since time immemorial, it seems. (Actually, it has been ongoing for exactly 61 weeks.)

The project, which will widen Walsingham from four lanes to six, is on track to be completed in (gasp) late 2006 or early 2007, according to Kris Carson of the DOT.

While you absorb that information, it is interesting to note that Walsingham becomes a county road at the fork that takes Walsingham southeast past the Florida Botanical Gardens.

The other part of Walsingham becomes Ulmerton Road, which is a state road.

So why is the Walsingham project taking so long? A two-plus year project may seem like a really long time to most of us, but major road construction is not an overnight endeavor. Much of the work that goes on is unseen by the average motorist making his or her way through a detour.

"Typically, 18 months to two years is not unreasonable for a project of this size. It sometimes takes that long just to relocate all the utilities," said Ken Jacobs of Pinellas County's public works.

DUHME ROAD: Figuring out how to get motorists on and off Duhme Road from side streets has been an ongoing issue.

Collisions that resulted in fatalities at the entrance to Oakhurst Shores sparked a lot of discussion some years back about how best to manage the flow of traffic in and out of the neighborhood, which is on a blind curve. Vehicles heading south on Duhme often exceed the speed limit and rocket through the curve, sometimes narrowly missing vehicles slowing to enter the subdivision.

New medians are going in just north of 54th Avenue N, but the going seems awfully slow. The medians being carved into the roadway will ensure safer flow of traffic in and out of the residential streets, but the line of barricades seems to move up and down the same spit of road every week. But take my word for it, progress is being made. The word from county public works is that the Duhme project will conclude "soon."

PINELLAS PARK'S 78TH AVENUE: What's next, locusts and pestilence?

Some residents have just plain had it with the noise and the dust and the endless delays. Not to mention the floodwater from a broken water main and the cut gas line that ignited and sent 35-foot flames shooting into the air recently, according to city spokesman Tim Caddell. He acknowledged that one thing after another has happened to cause delays with the road project.

Pinellas Park resident Sandor Nagy has complained to the mayor's office about the project which he refers to as "a boondoggle."

"My car and all my neighbors' cars are filthy from the dirt and dust stirred up when our side of the street was torn up. Early on, I received project plans for this project, and I can clearly see that the timetable is way off," Nagy wrote in a letter to Pinellas Park's mayor and City Council.

This project has been ongoing for about nine months, according to Nagy, who has a front-row seat since he lives on 78th Avenue. Nagy says problems included broken water mains and lots of delays and at one point he could not use his driveway for six weeks.

Access to the post office on 78th Avenue is tricky due to detours and some motorists are resorting to driving the wrong way through the one-way drive of the public library in order to get to the post office.

Nagy's letter resulted in a few visits from project engineers but Nagy said he isn't impressed with the progress of the project. "It's just a mess," Nagy said.

Caddell said there currently is no completion date set for the project. Roadside signs that had listed Nov. 15 as the date 78th Avenue would reopen have been removed.

For the many folks who wrote to me wondering why the I-275 on-ramp off the Pinellas Bayway was closed for two weeks: The DOT closed the ramp in order to replace two large concrete slabs; the ramp was scheduled to reopen late last week.

Until next week, happy and safe motoring. See you at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day!

[Last modified November 20, 2005, 00:54:20]