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Drivers say nay to new U-turn plan

Residents turning onto a portion of Walsingham Road fear an increase in accidents once they have to make a U-turn farther down the street.

By ASHLEE CLARK
Published June 21, 2006

LARGO - Drunken drivers used to be the only thing that scared Constance Dawson when she drove.

Now she has a No. 2.

Making U-turns on Walsingham Road at 137th Street in Largo.

And Dawson will have to confront this fear every time she drives her gold Nissan east on Walsingham Road from her house on Palm Drive.

The Florida Department of Transportation plans to close a median on Walsingham, which is State Road 688, that now allows Dawson and her neighbors to turn left from Palm Drive and Oak Street onto eastbound Walsingham.

Instead of making that left, residents who want to go east will have to turn right onto Walsingham and then make a U-turn at the next major intersection, 137th Street.

Dawson, 74, a retired display artist, fears the change will result in accidents and headaches to the drivers in the 42 homes on Palm Drive and Oak Street who use Walsingham Road to leave their neighborhood.

Some of Dawson's neighbors refuse to make the U-turn, instead turning around in business parking lots to avoid the heavy traffic, she said.

Residents will share their concerns about the road at a DOT meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"This isn't right," Dawson said. "This is extremely dangerous."

Sgt. George Edmiston, traffic enforcement supervisor for the Largo Police Department, said there have been four accidents at the 137th and Walsingham intersection since May. The number is "pretty low" considering that 25,000 to 30,000 vehicles go through the area in a five-day period, he said.

DOT spokeswoman Marian Scorza said officials decided to eliminate the left-turn option when the department began expanding State Road 688 from four to six lanes. The department told residents of the plan at public meetings in 2000 and 2004.

"Safety, not convenience, is the prevailing factor of what we do," Scorza said. "It's much safer to go down and make a U-turn."

The main reason for closing the median, Scorza said, is to keep drivers who are turning left onto Walsingham from having accidents with drivers on Walsingham who are getting ready to turn left onto 137th.

The left-turn lane from Walsingham onto 137th Street must be 350 feet long with a 50-foot taper. The taper would end at Palm Drive and Oak Street, which would not leave enough room for drivers to turn left out of the neighborhood, Scorza said.

Barbara Hermann disagrees.

"What's safe about making a U-turn up there?" she said, standing outside her home on the edge of Palm Drive with her neighbor, Denise Casey.

She said accidents will become more prevalent as drivers try to fight opposing traffic to make U-turns.

And all that driving doesn't seem so practical to Hermann.

"I have to go 6½ blocks to go a block and a half," she said.

infobox: IF YOU GOThe Florida Department of Transportation will have a public meeting on plans regarding work on Walsingham Road at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Fellowship Hall of First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks, 12685 Ulmerton Road.

[Last modified June 20, 2006, 22:22:02]