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No left turns allowed here

In a bid to cut crashes, officials plan a raised median instead of a left-turn lane on Hillsborough Avenue.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD
Published March 13, 2007

TAMPA - Traffic crashes are becoming more and more common on the bustling stretch of E Hillsborough Avenue east of Interstate 275.

The annual total has risen steadily from 269 in 1999 to 351 in 2005 - a crash nearly every day along 3 miles of the thoroughfare from Nebraska Avenue to 50th Street, the state says.

The problem is the two-way left-turn lane that runs down the center of the seven-lane road, officials say. They say it has led to a left-turn free-for-all that causes too many accidents and leaves pedestrians no safe way to cross.

State officials, who are usually under pressure to add lanes to roads, announced Monday that they'll do away with that left-turn lane this fall.

They'll replace it with a raised concrete median, said Don Skelton, regional director of the state Department of Transportation.

The state will add left-turn arrows to traffic signals and keep the road's turn lanes blocks apart, restricting drivers to turn only at openings in the median.

About a third of accidents on that stretch of road are left-turn crashes, the DOT said.

"Often it's simply carelessness on the part of the turning driver," said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins. "Typically somebody tries to beat the oncoming traffic."

Wrecks are also increasing because that's a busy east-west corridor, Coggins said.

At a public meeting last year, some neighbors worried that eliminating the left-turn lane would back up traffic.

But DOT engineers decided a median would prevent accidents and wouldn't make traffic worse.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at 813 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 13, 2007, 06:32:28]