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Mailbag shows rainfall delivers vexing ride

By Times Staff
Published February 14, 2006

The torrential deluge of Feb. 3 has generated a lot of mail.

Here are a couple of points that many folks have been making: First, it is not a good idea to drive through standing water, and second, a lot of motorists who do not drive SUVs are more than a little hacked off at folks who do drive SUVs - barreling through standing water at high speeds, sending huge wakes into lower-riding vehicles.

This apparently happened all over, judging from my mail. I witnessed it while trying to get through the intersection of Park Street and Tyrone Boulevard. When I noticed that the median dividing Bay Pines Boulevard was under water, I gave up and rode the storm out at the lunch counter at Steak n Shake on Park Street, watching fry cook Sammy Davis Jr. make burgers for the customers who sought refuge in the restaurant.

While we're on the topic of the freakish storm, reader consensus is that the Carillon office park is not the best place to be if you need to get somewhere fast in the middle of a monsoon-like storm. Workers who were stymied by the flooding have written to me to complain about two things: their employers not allowing them to leave work early and then disclaiming any liability for water damage to vehicles swamped in the flooded parking lots, and the insanity of trying to get out of Carillon via Ulmerton Road - the only passable exit at the time.

Lt. Greg Schwemley of the St. Petersburg Police Department said when he drove through the area last Friday, the 28th Street exit from Carillon was under water and indeed, the Ulmerton Road exit was the only option for workers.

Here is what reader Cathie Mollon wrote in an e-mail last week:

"I am one of the many hundreds that work in the Carillon office park, and I was at work Feb. 3 when we had all that rain. When the employees from the office park started leaving on Friday night, only one exit was available. It was the one on Ulmerton Road, and the traffic light short cycles to give Ulmerton traffic the priority. Although there are two left turn lanes going out, most drivers chose to only drive in the far left lane, which meant only one line of traffic was exiting. The light cycle was so short that only an average of six cars was able to get through the light per cycle. Since I work at Raymond James and my office faces the Ulmerton exit, we watched for hours while only a few cars made it through the light each time. From about 4 p.m. on, there were two St. Petersburg police cars parked in front of the exit, but they did nothing to help with the flow of traffic coming out of Carillon."

Mollon said that by 7 p.m., it took workers up to an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot. A call to police by workers inquiring why officers on the scene were not helping to expedite getting traffic out was unsatisfactory to Mollon.

"We were told that as long as the light was working, they were not going to call officers to direct traffic. This just doesn't seem right. What if there had been a real emergency like maybe a hurricane?" Mollon asked.

A heavy rainstorm and a hurricane evacuation are entirely different situations, Schwemley said, adding that the response Mollon received from the St. Petersburg Police Department was standard.

Schwemley noted that county workers have recently adjusted the timing of the Carillon traffic signals. A call to the public works department to comment on the signal at Carillon was not returned this past week.

The issue of right of way in a roundabout is coming around again. Reader Bob Mathews refers to them as rotaries, a term I personally like better than roundabout, which brings to mind images of merry-go-rounds and ring around the rosy - both make me light-headed and woozy. Here is what Mathews said about the one at First Street NE:

"When you travel along First Street N, you hit a roundabout/rotary by the park at 30th Avenue N. It has a "Yield' sign, which seems to confuse most motorists, certainly me. Last year I was stopped by a St. Petersburg police officer for proceeding through the intersection and not seeing him pulling into 30th Avenue N. No ticket, just a warning, and he said everyone thinks the First Street traffic has the right of way. This is a troublesome intersection. Why can't the city clarify this and either make it a full four-way stop or else say something about right of way? Since that traffic stop I just avoid the whole thing. Most rotaries (whether here or in Europe) seem to be a matter of who bluffs the best anyway. I don't see the point."

Maybe Mathews' suggestion of clearer signage would help. Readers, any comments?

--Lorrie Lykins' Ask Dr. Delay column runs regularly in the southern Pinellas local editions of the Times. Please share your traffic concerns, comments and questions with Dr. Delay via e-mail at docdelay@yahoo.com

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 02:45:31]