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U-turn on 54, you lose
It's not a secret that everybody hates rush hour on SR 54. It's not U.S. 19 yet, but it's fast becoming such a legend that you feel secretly sympathetic for the road planners who have to try to fix it.
By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published May 20, 2007
LAND O'LAKES
It's 4 p.m. Tuesday. State Road 54 is a river of cars.
I was making a U-turn outside Cumberland Farms.
Let me repeat that.
Central Pasco, SR 54, 4 p.m. U-turn, median cut, no traffic signals.
You know how that goes.
The left lane was clear, or so I thought. Turn now, or wait another few minutes of eternity.
I start to go. About 20 feet away, whoever was driving that midnight blue SUV decides to change lanes. I see him charging at me from the corner of my eye.
Tight swerve to my left. He passed by, inches from my Jeep.
Could have turned out very differently, but what's new? It's central Pasco. It's SR 54. It's 4 p.m. on a weekday. Forget about it.
I almost did.
But Patricia Martins won't.
She's 54. Moved to Land O'Lakes in 1992. Lives at Willow Lake.
She says it's a nice place mostly, except that it's jammed on SR 54, between Collier Parkway and U.S. 41.
She moved here for the rural charm. She got sirens instead.
"I hear them two or three times a day now, emergency and police vehicles, " she said.
It's not a secret that everybody hates rush hour on SR 54. It's not U.S. 19 yet, but it's fast becoming such a legend that you feel secretly sympathetic for the road planners who have to try to fix it.
Some people think road-widening will do the trick. Some want more median cuts. Some push for more right-turn lanes.
Martins wants a set of traffic lights on her home stretch, preferably outside Heron Cove, not far from where she lives.
The state Department of Transportation is not so keen.
"If we put a signal at every street, traffic would never move, " said Kris Carson, the overworked spokeswoman at the state Department of Transportation. "Traffic signals also generate rear-end collisions."
Doug Uden, the county's metropolitan planning director, thinks the half-mile between Heron Cove and Collier is too short to warrant signals.
Martins is doubtful.
After all, new signals just went up outside Seven Oaks on Ancient Oaks Boulevard and State Road 56.
That's about the same half-mile distance to the next set of lights, at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.
She suspects it's all about money.
Folks at Seven Oaks got their signal because their developer, Crown Community, paid for them. Same for Saddlebrook farther north. Same for Wal-Mart.
Carson said that's not true. The decision to install a signal is based on national standards for traffic volume, crashes and delays, she said. A developer pays if their development produces the traffic.
A new set of signals can cost more than $450, 000 a pop. Don't bother trying eBay (it's only got vintage and single lights).
In 2003, there were nine crashes on SR 54, between U.S. 41 and Collier.
Last year, there were 22, and the first fatality in years.
But you could argue the poor kid who died was doing 95 mph southbound on Collier. Apples and oranges.
You could argue that signals wouldn't have slowed 18-year-old Patrick Boyle anyway, if they had been green or if he ignored them.
Forget about it.
But Martins doesn't want to forget about it. Not when she has to make that U-turn on SR 54, at 4 p.m., almost every day.
Fast Facts:
Crash and learn
State Road 54, between U.S. 41 and Collier Parkway
Crashes | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | *2006 |
| Total | 9 | 23 | 26 | 21 |
| Fatal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
*Based on incomplete data
Source: Florida Department of Transportation
Most dangerous county intersections
1. Interstate 75 and State Road 54
2. SR 52 and U.S. 19
3. I-75 and SR 52
4. I-75 and SR 56
5. SR 54 and U.S. 41
6. Collier Parkway and SR 54
7. Moog Road and U.S. 19
8. County Road 1 and SR 54
9. CR 581 and SR 54
10. Ridge Road and U.S. 19
Source: Pasco County 2005 Traffic Facts Crash Report
Note: The 2006 report will be released next month.
[Last modified May 19, 2007, 20:47:23]
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