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Sites needing extra care

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published November 12, 2006

Every so often we make note of what the Doc likes to call the Hail Mary intersections, cross streets and sundry traffic hazards around town.

We haven't done this in a while and since the holiday season is nigh - that fun-filled time of year when crazy drivers seem to delight in cranking up the crazy a few notches - let's highlight a few:

-The nightmarish median on 66th Street: It serves as a queue for vehicles from the north-south going in and out of the Crossroads Center and is guaranteed to raise the blood pressure and inspire expletives.

Many stores in the busy shopping hub, like iParty and Toys R Us, face Tyrone Boulevard. But the busiest entrance and exit is at the west side of the complex, 66th Street just south of 22nd Avenue N. It's a mess of mammoth proportion.

SUVs unquestionably rule here regardless of right of way because SUV drivers are the only ones who can actually see the oncoming traffic. I like to call this the "sit there and stew until the hulk of what amounts to a family room on wheels eclipsing your field of vision is out of the way" traffic pattern.

Vehicles trying to enter the shopping center that houses Home Depot and Circuit City on its west side from 66th Street have it rough, too. But then, so do the vehicles trying to exit.

The cautious thing to do is exit via a right turn, head north and then turn around because trying to cross the traffic and take refuge in the median while waiting to dash into southbound traffic is too perilous.

-Lighthouse Crossings: The shopping center is home to Wal-Mart and PetSmart and gives motorists three equally maddening entrance and exit options.

Folks entering or exiting from 28th Avenue must contend with east-west traffic speeding around a curve. The other option is entering via Tyrone. Entering is easier than exiting, which challenges drivers to enter traffic that is almost always stacked up waiting for the signal at Tyrone-Bay Pines Boulevard. Getting in depends on the kindness of motorists. Good luck.

The third entrance-exit option is the west exit onto northbound Park, truly a Hail Mary situation because motorists can only turn right and the traffic on Park is a constant high speed flow.

-Park Street: Across from Wal-Mart on Park Street, the exit from Target is even worse. It's darn near impossible for traffic exiting the Target-Steak

- Shake driveway to catch a break in traffic as the north-south traffic seems never to let up. Avoid this area during rush hour at all costs.

Patrons of the Outback Steakhouse at Lighthouse Point on the corner of Park Street and Bay Pines-Tyrone Boulevard may find that exiting the parking lot onto eastbound Bay Pines-Tyrone Boulevard requires stunt driving skills or at the very least, a kind driver who will yield the right of way because the flow of traffic from the beaches rarely lets up.

Exiting the parking lot to head north is trickier because motorists must head south on Park Street then find a safe place to execute a U-turn. This frequently occurs in the Walgreens drive on the opposite side of the street or the Doc's personal favorite - in the middle of Park Street.

Reader Bill Bellman alerted us to the similar difficulties at the Park Plaza shopping center exit on 49th street. He wrote: "Many drivers needing to turn left out of either exit are vulnerable to the cross traffic coming from Park Boulevard on the south and 78th Avenue on the north. It's not very often when there is a break in traffic from both directions at the same time, so you mostly have to take a chance. Some drivers go half way across and sit at an angle while waiting for a break."

So what's the solution? Better design on the part of developers may help. Less development may help. How many more vehicles can area roads support? We seem to have reached density overload.

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 November 11, 2006, 19:39:12]