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Median is part of DOT plan

Neighbors are bothered by the prospect of turn restrictions along a road.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published April 14, 2006

Between 2000 and 2004, there were 1,590 car crashes along Hillsborough Avenue, between Nebraska Avenue and 50th Street.

Of those, 45 were head-on collisions, 123 were sideswipes, 40 involved pedestrians and nine resulted in deaths.

The culprit?

The two-way center turn lane on the seven-lane road, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. Officials say it has created a left-turn free-for-all that leaves pedestrians no safe haven to cross.

The solution?

Eliminate the center lane and replace it with a raised, grassy median. Add left-turn arrows to traffic signals. Route the turn lanes, thereby restricting drivers to turn only at openings, blocks apart.

"It will save lives,'' said Manuel Santos, FDOT's manager for the project.

The medians bother resident Janet Andux, 47, who attended a FDOT meeting Tuesday at Seminole Heights Baptist Church to present the project.

"The way they have it set up now, you can turn where you want to go, and it's getting the traffic off the road," Andux said.

"If a person has to go two blocks down to a turn thing to make a U-turn, you're going to back up traffic. It's not good for business and it's not good for commuters."

The few neighbors who attended the meeting had similar complaints, surprising Santos, who said he has only received positive phone calls about the project.

Traffic on Hillsborough is a nightmare, Andux acknowledged.

She was routed several blocks out of her way just to get to the meeting Tuesday night because a car crash was blocking the road in front of the church, she said. Adding left-turn signals would improve traffic significantly, she said.

Bala Padmanabhan, a consultant who spent two years conducting traffic studies for FDOT, said the project would prevent accidents along the 3-mile stretch of Hillsborough. He did not expect that turn-lane backups would be a problem.

The project began in 2003. The design phase is expected to be finished this winter, with construction to begin in summer 2007. It will cost more than $850,000.

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 813-226-3354 or azayas@sptimes.com.

[Last modified April 13, 2006, 14:30:54]