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Channelside's crunch

A city traffic engineer calls it "manageable congestion." Channel District leaders and visitors call it a growing concern.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published January 13, 2006

	[Times photo: Daniel Wallace]
	Bottlenecks on Channelside Drive are common, and parking can be at a premium. New condos are expected to add to the congestion. Two restaurateurs planned to talk traffic with Mayor Pam Iorio earlier this week.

CHANNEL DISTRICT - Ellen Denham hates sitting in traffic, so she gets to her downtown office 25 minutes earlier than necessary.

She arrives at her night class at the University of South Florida 15 minutes early.

But when Denham and her husband, Ben, go to hockey games at the St. Pete Times Forum, especially on weekends, there's no way to avoid the crush. Eastbound traffic from the Platt Street Bridge to the Channelside entertainment complex will be backed up for a long way.

So that's when Ben gets called into driving duty.

"He has to, because I would lose my mind if I did," said Denham, who lives in Swann Estates.

"People keep trying to squeeze in front of you and change lanes at the last minute. . . . I can't handle that stress. I might kill somebody."

Instead, Denham said, she reclines the passenger seat, closes her eyes and listens to classical music until Ben parks their Nissan Pathfinder.

But pathfinding through this stretch of Channelside Drive is no easy feat, thanks to all the popular destinations that border it.

There's the Forum, which can draw more than 20,000 fans for Tampa Bay Lightning games and major concerts. The Channelside entertainment complex, with its restaurants, shops and theaters. The Yacht Starship dining cruise departure and arrival site. The approach to the Florida Aquarium.

Several condominium projects slated for the area are expected to add to the congestion. That concerns Genie White, president of the Channel District Community Association.

"It's not good," said White, who contends that the city is not sufficiently concerned about the traffic issues. "From a common sense point of view, of course it's going to be a problem. It's going to be a mess."

Guy Revelle, who owns four Channelside restaurants, said he and his partner planned to meet with Mayor Pam Iorio this week about traffic, parking and transportation issues.

"It's a huge issue," Revelle said. "We have been talking about this for probably three years or so. But certain things need to be done now."

Revelle is optimistic that the various entities dealing with the issue - local businesses, the city, the Port Authority - will be able to find positive solutions for Tampa as a whole:

"Everybody's got the same goal, to make Tampa the best it can be," he said.

Right now, though, traffic and parking concerns likely dissuade some people from enjoying his businesses on the weekends, Revelle said.

On most of the weekend nights heading into the holidays, Revelle said, parking was completely sold out for a few hours each night.

"So if you're coming to Channelside, if you're just coming down to go to Splitsville, or Stump's or the theater or wherever, you go to park and you're told, "Nope, full. Nope, full. Nope, full.'

"That is our main concern right now. But I think everybody's working together to solve the problem."

And it's not as if Revelle's exactly complaining about the Channel District's popularity.

"It's one of those good thing/bad things," he said. "The reason it's become a problem is because we've become so successful."

Revelle said he has heard one interesting idea for the future: Remove vehicle traffic altogether in front of Channelside and turn it into a "walking plaza."

Neat idea, but not one that's likely to happen, said Debbie Herrington, a city traffic engineer.

"I think there's too much need for vehicle traffic down there," she said, pointing out that many people use Channelside Drive to get to the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

While Channelside Drive does back up during high-volume periods, Herrington said, it has not reached the level of a serious problem.

"I would say that there is congestion, but I think it's a manageable congestion," she said.

One way the city is looking to deal with traffic and parking issues is through a comprehensive plan. Channel District is one of eight areas in the city designated as a community redevelopment area, which allows the city to funnel money to areas in need.

"The most intensive activity that the city is involved with in the Channel District is wrapping up the strategic action plan," said Michael Chen, the city's director of urban development.

Improved pedestrian traffic around Channelside Drive is one of the plan's focuses, Chen said.

Ken Stoltenberg, a developer who is on the Channel District board, said it's hard to tell what Channelside Drive traffic will look like in coming years.

When the Meridian Avenue gateway from the Expressway opens, he said, "that's going to change the entire traffic pattern down here."

Something needs to happen, said Carl Atkins, who likes to come here for the Channelside Cinemas' IMAX theater.

"It's really gotten so much worse in the past year," said Atkins, a Hyde Park resident and frequent Channelside visitor.

Atkins blames the Lightning's Stanley Cup win and the national notoriety that followed the arrest of two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders in November after an altercation at Banana Joe's nightclub.

Add in some big shows lately at the Forum, including U2, Atkins said, and Channelside Drive "has gotten too big for its britches."

- Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 813 226-3431.

[Last modified January 12, 2006, 08:38:10]