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Letter to the editor

Signs change; will speeders?

Safety Harbor officials agree to reconfigure 11 intersections to discourage speeding.

By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 7, 2007

SAFETY HARBOR - Way out yonder in the boondocks.

That's really the only place where you can count on folks to heed the unwritten rule that the first car at an intersection has the right of way, says City Engineer Bill Baker.

But "that doesn't work in town," he said.

So at a meeting Wednesday night, Safety Harbor city commissioners voted to reconfigure 11 of 75 downtown intersections to discourage speeding while balancing the distribution of traffic.

Stop signs will soon be switched around in an area bounded by Tenth Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Bayshore Boulevard/Philippe Parkway and Seventh Street S.

For example, as it stands right now, a motorist can travel on Second Street S from Ninth Avenue to Second Avenue and be required to stop four times.

But a person driving on Fifth Street S from Ninth Avenue heading east doesn't have to stop until he or she reaches Bayshore Boulevard.

Rearranging the signs, Baker said, will fix that.

In this town of only 17,800, traffic - too much and too fast - has long been a problem.

About a month ago, city officials installed two new four-way stop signs on Main Street to curb speeding, one at Tenth Avenue and one at Fifth Avenue.

Shaun Shea, owner of Main Street Jewelry, 500 Main St., ran the sign at Fifth just the other day.

"It's right in the middle of town," he said, adding that people are having a hard time getting used to it. "One in 500 cars will run it."

Or roll it.

He said he loves the stop sign because it halts traffic right in front of his store, which brings in business.

Lois Spencer, who owns Safety Harbor Antiques and Collectables at 505 Main St., fought for the sign for more than two decades.

"I think it's wonderful," she said. "Safety Harbor has been a freeway for years."

She said when the signs went up she expected to witness some fender benders, "but I haven't."

"It's not 100 percent (perfect)," she said. "But it's definitely working."

At the meeting Wednesday, commissioners also agreed to pave several narrow roads city officials classify as substandard, meaning they were constructed before the present land development code or other reasons.

Many, such as Marshall Street E, Irwin Street and Washington Avenue, are gouged, ripped up and full of potholes.

Some just consist of dirt.

Baker said there are homeowners who love the roads because it gives their neighborhood a "village feel," but the ride is rough.

While the treatment won't include curbs or sidewalks, it will call for a healthy, 20-foot-wide layer of asphalt, giving drivers a smoother journey.

"If you live in Safety Harbor along a public street, you deserve to have a paved street," said Mayor Andy Steingold. "I'm happy that we're going to get this done."

Streets to be paved in 2007-08:

- Washington Avenue

- Bay View Street

- Marshall Street East

- Irwin Street

- Cohn Lane

- Elm Street

- Woodell Drive

- Belmont Street

- Second Avenue N

- Spruce Street

Streets to be paved in 2008-09

- Harbor Hills Drive

- Oak Avenue

- Palm Avenue

- Rajel Street

- Fourth Street S

- Fifth Street

- Second Street

[Last modified September 6, 2007, 21:39:11]