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Work on road has ups, DownsBy SUSAN THURSTON © St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2001 One in an occasional series about life in and around New Tampa. Word that the county planned to resurface New Tampa's main drag hit me, and a lot of other commuters, like a pile of asphalt. Only one thing could be worse than driving on Bruce B. Downs, and that's driving on Bruce B. Downs during construction. I hated the idea from the start. The road seemed in fine shape to me and better than others around town, namely Cross Creek Boulevard. And, besides, why should we have to endure more delays when, at the end of the project, Bruce B. Downs would be just as crowded? I saw my future flash before my eyes, and I didn't like what I saw. On the scale of pain, I figured resurfacing the road from Fletcher Avenue to the county line would be a dull headache. The planned widening of Bruce B. Downs from four to six lanes and reconstruction of the Interstate 75 interchange would be migraines. Get ready, I thought. This is just the beginning. Like the Monday after a long vacation, I dreaded the first day of construction Feb. 4. Tearing up the road and shutting down lanes were bound to create problems, even though they worked at night. Expecting the worst, I grudgingly set my alarm clock back and packed my favorite CDs for the long rides ahead. Two weeks into it, I'm relieved that the monthlong project has gone pretty smoothly. Crews have almost finished the section south of the interstate and started the north section Thursday night. They repaved one lane at a time and restriped as they went along. Thankfully, workers started construction around 8 p.m. and finished while most people were sleeping or just getting up. Paying the $60,000 extra was well worth it. I may not have noticed the $1.65-million project at all, had it not been for the equipment on the side of the road and the dips where the blacktop ended. And the traffic lights. With construction came new delays around Tampa Palms. Bruce B. Downs is normally less congested there than near Interstate 75, so I couldn't figure out why it was taking so long to get to Bearss Avenue. I assumed it must be a fluke. After all, traffic in New Tampa gets worse with every house that goes up. Longer traffic jams are inevitable. I realized something was up, though, when traffic backed up more than a mile. It took several minutes to go 11/2 miles from Tampa Palms to Bearss. And this was at 9 a.m., long after the morning rush. The problem seemed to stem from the lights at Skipper Road and at the entrances of the St. Croix Apartments and Lake Forest. Only a few cars on Bruce B. Downs got through each green light. And the red lights lasted forever. Frustrated and mad, I called the county for an explanation. It turns out that when crews carved out the old asphalt, they took out the sensors that control the traffic signals. This threw off the timing. The lights had allowed more traffic on Bruce B. Downs to get through, but without the sensors, the less-traveled side roads had more time. The result: Cars on Bruce B. Downs had to wait through several rounds of green lights to go. I'm not sure why the county or the construction company didn't think about the timing beforehand. I also was surprised to hear that no one had called them, even though I had heard some grumblings from a few Tampa Palms residents. It took a reporter to point out the problem. Steve Valdez, the county's spokesman, said he was kind of shocked, too. Thanks to cell phones, they usually find out about these things right away. It's not always pleasant. Nonetheless, traffic department workers went out right away to adjust the timing manually. The situation appeared fixed by Friday. If that's the worst glitch during construction, I can live with it. Wouldn't it be great if every problem on Bruce B. Downs could be resolved in one phone call? -- Susan Thurston can be reached at (813) 226-3463 or thurston@sptimes.com.
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