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Residents hope humps in road curb speeders
By MAUREEN BYRNE © St. Petersburg Times, published January 20, 2001 SEMINOLE -- During the 13 years Lynda Fitzwater has lived in Yacht Club Estates, traffic on one of the neighborhood's main roads has dramatically increased. And not only has the number of vehicles using Yacht Club Boulevard gone up, so has their speed. But help is on the way. Within the next two months, five speed humps will be installed on Yacht Club Boulevard, which is near Oakhurst Road and 102nd Avenue. The humps will be about 12 feet long and about 31/2 inches high. They have one goal: to slow down traffic. "I'm glad because maybe it won't be so busy," said Fitzwater, who lives on the corner of Portside Drive and Yacht Club Boulevard. "I'm beginning to think I live on U.S. 19." Fitzwater's relief is shared by many of her neighbors who live in the single-family homes on Yacht Club Boulevard. Fifty of the 58 residents surveyed by the county said they were in favor of installing speed humps on Yacht Club. A Pinellas County Traffic Engineering study showed that many vehicles were traveling faster than the posted 25 mph speed limit, some substantially so. Additionally, vehicular traffic counts on Yacht Club indicate approximately 1,723 vehicles per day travel the roadway, which is considered excessive. Why all the traffic? "It's an access to get to other subdivisions," said Pete Turgeon, a county traffic operations manager. Yacht Club Boulevard and nearby Passage Way connect Oakhurst Road to Hamlin Boulevard. Motorists use the streets as a shortcut to Hamlin, avoiding traffic on 102nd Avenue and a stop light at 102nd and Oakhurst. Seven months ago, the county installed four speed humps on Passage Way. "Oh, it's amazing," said Gordon Kafer, who lives on the street. "The volume of traffic has diminished considerably. The speed humps are very effective in reducing the traffic." But what discouraged motorists from driving on Passage Way -- speed humps -- increased traffic on Yacht Club Boulevard. Motorists wanting to avoid the humps began taking Yacht Club to get to Hamlin Boulevard. Three months ago, stop signs were installed on Yacht Club Boulevard at the intersection of Portside Drive. Turgeon said while workers were investigating the speeding problem on Yacht Club, they discovered that the view was obstructed for motorists pulling out from Portside onto Yacht Club. "It wasn't really part of the traffic calming," Turgeon said. "It was a safety issue." The new stop signs have helped slow traffic, but sometimes they are ignored by drivers. During a five-minute period Wednesday evening, two motorists didn't even stop at the sign posted at Portside Drive. Two others barely stopped, gliding past the sign. "You see some going really fast," Fitzwater said. "If a little kid or a dog ran out, then that would be it." Edward Tarkenton, who lives on the corner of Mooring Drive and Yacht Club Boulevard, said he owned two dogs that were hit and killed by cars speeding on Yacht Club. "The thing that I think most people are fed up with are the people going 40 or 50 mph," he said. Tarkenton hopes people pay attention to the speed humps. "Nobody wants somebody to come through here for the first time and not know about them and wind up on somebody's front lawn," he said. - Staff writer Maureen Byrne can be reached at 445-4163 or at byrne@sptimes.com.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
