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By JEAN HELLER
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2001
Just when you thought it was safe to travel Fourth Street S, somebody tore it all up again. Doesn't that just spoil your lunch?
Don't blame the city of St. Petersburg. Folks in the road biz over there are just as peeved about it all as you are. The only good thing we can say about the new mess is that it should go away by the end of the week.
Here's the scoop, direct from Mike Connors who, according to his new title, is now director of just about everything that goes on in city government. Wearing his transportation hat, Connors gave us a little history. The reconstruction of Fourth Street S from Fifth to 23rd avenues, part of the city's master storm drainage project, was completed in December and striped in January.
"We had no sooner finished it than an area in the neighborhood of Eighth Avenue S began to settle," Connors said. "It was right where Florida Power has six 3-inch to 4-inch conduits that cross Fourth. They had to be replaced."
The city had the authority to say no.
"Normally, we would never let Florida Power or anybody else cut up brand-new pavement," Connors said. "We wouldn't allow it for at least five years. But they convinced us that neither directional drilling nor jack-and-bore methods would work in this case, so we told them to go ahead."
But, he added, the city is not happy about it, particularly since the company was asked during the original Fourth Street project if they needed to do any work on their conduits and said everything was fine.
"But the company has just been acquired, and one of the results of acquisitions are cuts in expenses," Connors said. "Revenue might not be what it once was, and some maintenance problems were allowed to slide by. But I don't want to be too tough on them. We're satisfied with their level of effort, and it will be over soon."
Once the work is done, Connors told us, Florida Power will be responsible for putting the new roadway back the way it was, work the city expects to be finished no later than Thursday. And Florida Power will foot the bill.
We'll see.
If you are one of those people who likes to get around the city on two wheels instead of four, this is for you. The newly formed St. Petersburg Bicycle Safety Task Force will host a presentation, Designing for Livable Communities -- Bicycles Play A Role Too! at the Sunshine Center Auditorium, 333 Fifth St. N, on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m.
Ed Crawford, public liaison with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, known as Hartline, will describe his recent bicycle trips through Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium researching bicycle facilities, use and legislation.
The city and the task force also are teaming up to provide a bicycling safety course at the city's transportation complex, 1744 Ninth Ave. N, on two Saturdays, Feb. 24 and March 3, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The course runs for nine hours and is limited to adults. It covers the basics of cycling, bicycle selection and fit, helmet use, bike handling skills and traffic rules and responsibilities. The course also includes valuable on-the-bike skills and tips on how to maneuver in emergency situations and avoid serious injury.
Driving around the county recently, watching the testing of the new electronic message signs on the interstate, we realized that the only letters we ever see in the test are A, B and C. First a full screen of As, then a full screen of Bs, then a full screen of Cs. Then back to As.
The only word Jessie could think of to spell from these three letters is CAB.
The elimination of the rest of the alphabet, we thought, would severely limit the messaging capacity of the signs, so we asked traffic maven Angelo Rao for an explanation.
After having a giggle at our expense, Rao told us that what is being tested now is the signs' capacity to flip characters, and which characters are used is not important. The city, he assured us, will use the full alphabet when the signs go into operation.
Well, that's a relief.
Stephanie Cain nominated this week's Eyeball Jiggler of the Week. The first half of the nomination we have mentioned before, months ago, but it hasn't been fixed, so it's worth another look. Part 2 is brand new.
If you are traveling east on Sixth Avenue S in the curb lane approaching Third Street, watch for the big swale in the road. It's mean. And no sooner have you survived that and started your turn onto southbound Third Street than the road drops out from under you. Take that with any speed and you are going to loosen some teeth. Just ask Jessie.
And now, Dr. Delay's terrible traffic factoid(s) of the week:
In 1999, the last year for which statistics are available, 550 children under the age of 5 were killed in vehicular accidents in the nation. Of these, 291, or 53 percent, were totally unrestrained. Jessie finds this appalling, and she isn't the only one.
For nearly half a century, transportation has accounted for one-fourth of total U.S. energy use and two-thirds of total oil consumption. Petroleum supplies about 97 percent of the energy used in transportation.
- Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com, by fax at (727) 893-8675 or by mail at 490 First Ave., S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.