Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Gandy corridor plan gets scaled back

By LORRIE LYKINSASK
Published September 17, 2006

It's no secret to commuters who travel the Gandy corridor that congestion on Gandy Boulevard from Fourth Street N to U.S. 19 is a headache.

The county's Metropolitan Planning Organization grappled with finding solutions to that problem during its regular meeting last week.

A design plan to upgrade the corridor recently proposed by the DOT has an estimated cost of $156-million. The proposal includes widening the road from four lanes of traffic to six, adding frontage roads and enhancing existing ones, and building overpasses.

DOT representatives presented a scaled-back version of the original design at last week's meeting that brought the estimated cost down to about $114-million

But the proposed cost-saving measures mean cutbacks in the original plan, including decreasing the six lanes of traffic to four, an idea that didn't sit well with MPO member Bill Mischler, mayor of Pinellas Park, who reminded MPO members that improving the hurricane evacuation route is critical to public safety for residents who depend on the route to get off the beaches and out of Seminole, as well as Pinellas Park.

"I hate to see six lanes cut down to four lanes to save money," Mischler said, adding that four lanes would be of little help in relieving the current volume, let alone in meeting future demands.

St. Petersburg City Council member and MPO member John Bryan presented an alternate proposal, which suggests an interim solution of constructing overpasses similar to the one at U.S. 19 and Gandy/Park Boulevard. Such flyovers would offer immediate relief to the current bottlenecks, Bryan said.

Mayor Rick Baker was on hand to lend support to Bryan's idea, calling the Gandy corridor "a significant problem, traffic-wise, for the city."

Traffic studies conducted by Pinellas County showed 48,500 vehicles moving through the corridor daily in 2005.

Don Skelton of the DOT said that dropping in bridges and overpasses is a bit more complicated than it may sound, but it's something the DOT will look into.

Bryan said after the meeting that he found the DOT's updated design proposal interesting but unrealistic.

"Two months ago it was a $156-million plan. Sure, they came back this time with the cost down to $114-million, but the city is interested in doing something that happens in our lifetime," Bryan said.

Pete Yauch, Pinellas County's director of transportation, said Bryan's suggestion of interim planning is a strategy that has worked in other cities.

"It's an interesting idea. Quite often you design something as a provisional solution because you can't afford a project all at once, which is what they did in downtown Tampa when they planned to add express lanes later on."

The DOT will refine its latest proposal and return to the MPO in two to three months. Meanwhile, Baker said he hopes the MPO will look at the possibility of improving the Gandy corridor in incremental phases and said that Bryan's idea has merit.

"Sometimes a simpler approach is the best idea."

* * *

Last week's mention of view obstructions presented by landscaping in medians, specifically the one on 38th Avenue N near the interstate ramps, brought a flood of e-mail. Many readers aren't convinced that aggressive maintenance of landscaping and tree trimming will help much.

John Corn wrote: "The real problem is that tall vehicles like SUVs and pickups cannot see oncoming traffic in either direction northbound and southbound when trying to get onto the interstate from 38th Avenue. I am all for beautifying the streets and city, but these trees pose an extremely dangerous problem to safety as well as violate the city's own ordinances with respect to plants blocking visual range at entrances to roads."

Corn suggested that a solution might be to restrict median planting to low shrubs rather than trees.

* * *

The 10th annual Commuter Choices Week is Sept. 25-29 in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Sponsored by Bay Area Commuter Services and the Transportation Management Organization Coordinating Group, the annual event encourages commuters to experiment with alternative transportation to work or school, including carpooling, riding the bus and teleworking. For more information, visit the Web site at: http://www.tampabayrideshare.org/.

Until next week, happy and safe motoring!

Please share your traffic concerns, comments and questions with Dr. Delay via e-mail at docdelay@yahoo.com.

[Last modified September 16, 2006, 20:30:51]