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Look for changes in the markings and nature of downtown St. Petersburg streets, officials say.
By BRYAN GILMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 12, 2000
ST. PETERSBURG -- This just in: Central Avenue east of 34th Street has just two lanes.
City traffic manager Angelo Rao this week had his traffic crews redraw the stripes on the four-lane street. What was once the right-hand lane in both directions has become angled parking.
Rao is working on several significant changes to the city street system designed to make it more to the liking of pedestrians and business.
Pretty soon, his crews will trim a lane from both First Avenue N and First Avenue S. The avenues are now one-way, four-lane thoroughfares, with First Avenue S for eastbound traffic and its northern counterpart for westbound cars.
Rao and his boss, Public Works Director George Webb, also said Thursday they have hired a consultant to make a detailed study of making one-way Eighth and Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) streets two-way. They are one-way, with Eighth northbound and King southbound in the blocks closest to Central Avenue.
Merchants and residents in the neighborhood have said switching the streets back to two-way operation would help businesses and restore the residential character of Eighth Street.
Rao and Webb can proceed with the study without City Council approval because it will cost less than $50,000.
"We're going to have more serious discussions to hammer out a real plan for the streets," Rao said. The consultant will count traffic, consult with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays about whether the change would cause problems with baseball traffic, and estimate how much the change might cost.
After the plan is done in six weeks, the city staff will have to ask the City Council to pay for changes, like new traffic signals, likely to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Rao noted that his reconfiguration of Central Avenue in the Grand Central district makes it match sections in the Dome District and downtown (without the planting areas or fancy new street lights).
People were analyzing the change Thursday.
"So far, I like it," said Margaret Jones, owner of Simply Nails at 2756 Central Ave. "The beauty salon used to take up all my (parking) spaces. Now there's room for both of us. It's slowed (drivers) down, too. They're not speeding as much."
Oscar Kiesylas, owner of Defender Firearms & Pawn across the street, said he doesn't mind the changes on Central, but he is concerned about the plan to narrow the First avenues.
Narrowing the thoroughfares, adding parking and slowing traffic all are ideas in the plan City Council recently approved to help revitalize the district.
The avenues have parallel parking on one side, and Rao's changes will take away one of four lanes to add parallel spaces on the other.
"I don't see the logic of it," Kiesylas said. "The parking doesn't seem to be in demand. At 5, 6 o'clock, there are hundreds of cars each way. That would very definitely be a sign of bad planning."
Paul Yonke, 50, disagreed. He uses the avenues to commute from his home near Central Plaza to his job on 66th Street.
"I don't see why not," he said of narrowing the avenues, which he finds too chaotic with four lanes. "There's never any traffic on First Avenue. If traffic's going a little slower, I'd rather enjoy the drive."
Rao said re-striping the firsts and Central avenue is a cheap and easy way to field-test the concepts in the neighborhood plan to see if they will work before the city spends serious money.