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Do those signs mean we go faster or slower?By JEAN HELLER © St. Petersburg Times, published April 15, 2001 We have a lot to cover today, so let's get right to it. From the Now-We-Have-Seen-Everything Department: If you have traveled Third Street S lately, you know it's pretty torn up south of Fifth Avenue S. The northbound lanes are gone completely, so traffic is squeezed to one lane in each direction. As you travel south, you encounter a temporary speed sign that says the limit is 35. Cross Sixth Avenue S, and there is a permanent sign planted in the ground at the curb that says the speed limit is 30. A few feet further along, and there is a temporary sign that says 35. And then another 35 and another. This marks the very first time that we have ever been told to speed up through a construction zone. There are a lot of other temporary signs, too, warning that speeding fines are doubled through the area. Does that mean you'll be ticketed for driving faster through the construction than on a street not under construction? St. Petersburg resident Paxton Barnett brought this conundrum to our attention, and, quite frankly, we couldn't find anybody to explain the "why" to us. Nobody we talked to knew anything about it. We wondered if perhaps the city just doesn't have any temporary speed signs except the 35s, in which case, we should take up a collection. From the Okay,-Let's-Try-This-Again Department. The Pinellas Park roadies didn't quite get that reconfiguration of the intersection of 66th Street and Park Boulevard off the ground (or in the ground) on schedule. So they're going to try again. Which means the intersection will be closed in all directions from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. from today through Friday, April 20. The project will create two left-turn lanes in each direction, assuming, of course, that the work isn't delayed again. From the Whose-Idea-Was-This,-Anyway Department. How about the new sign going up at the exit off northbound I-275 to Roosevelt Boulevard? It identifies the exit in two ways, as Exit 16, which is the way we have known and loved it for years, and by the number 30. This, the state roadies tell us, is a preview of a program which will make all exit numbers on all Florida interstates correspond to the closest mile marker. The signs will begin to change in other areas this summer, though Marian Pscion, spokeswoman for the state roadies, said I-275 through Pinellas and Hillsborough counties isn't scheduled for work until July of 2002. "We're doing the Roosevelt Boulevard exit and a couple in Hillsborough now because the signs have to be changed anyway, due to construction," Marian said. "All the new signs will have both the old exit number and the mile marker, and they will stay in place that way for about two years. Once everybody changes their maps and gets used to the new system, the signs will be replaced again and have mile marker numbers only." Sounds like a reason to party to us. This one is fresh from the Dumbfounded Department. According to state law, you cannot cross a solid double yellow centerline on any road under most circumstances. The exception is a situation that requires you to drive to the left to avoid an obstacle such as construction or a parked vehicle. You aren't even supposed to cross a double yellow to go around a bus stopped to pick up or drop off, though most police agencies will let that slide. Apparently, you cannot make a turn across an unbroken yellow line onto a public street, either. The law says specifically that you can make a turn across a solid double yellow if you are going into an alley, a driveway or a private road. But the exceptions do not include public streets. Odd? You bet. This becomes an issue for those entering the Bay Pines Mobile Home Park off 100th Way in Seminole. If you turn onto 100th Way from Bay Pines Boulevard, the first possible left is into the community by way of 46th Avenue N. But double yellow lines stretch, proudly unbroken, from Bay Pines Boulevard all the way up to the second intersection. There are no signs that say you can't make the left onto 46th Avenue, but the law says you can't. We couldn't find anyone who could explain this one, either. The only thing we can imagine is that the 46th Avenue intersection with 100th way is so close to Bay Pines Boulevard that some roadie somewhere thought there was a danger that a car waiting on 100th Way to make the left onto 46th Avenue would be rear-ended by a citizen turning a bit too fast off Bay Pines. But if this is so, there really should be a sign reinforcing the no-turn policy. As it stands, most people assume the unbroken yellow is the work of a mad street painter who didn't lift his spray nozzle as he passed by. That drumroll you hear is not thunder. It is the Eyeball Jiggler of the Week. You might want to think twice before whipping through the intersection of Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street S and 18th Avenue. What a chopped up mess that is. It's as if somebody took a jackhammer to the pavement then forgot to come back and fix it. And if you are northbound on Ninth, the intersection won't be your last chance to jiggle your eyeballs. A block or so north of 18th Avenue, the street under your driver-side tires begins to disintegrate, creating a washboard effect. I understand when things like this happen to streets up north under the pressure of freezing and thawing. But why does it happen here? And, Dr. Delay's Terrible Traffic Tidbits of the Week: Last year, nationwide, usage of public transportation systems increased by an estimated 320-million rides to a total of 9.4-billion trips. But there were still seats available on PSTA buses. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of flights canceled by the major U.S. air carriers increased nearly fourfold, from 50,163 cancellations in 1988 to 187,317 in 2000, while the total number of flights increased by only 9 percent. Gracious, where are standards? - Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com, by fax at (727) 893-8675 or by snail mail at 490 First Ave., S, St. Petersburg 33701.
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