Problem intersection to get traffic light

There have been seven severe accidents in front of the Home Depot where the new light will be placed.

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 14, 2001

SEMINOLE -- Heavy traffic on Park Boulevard warranted it. Nasty wrecks in front of the Home Depot warranted it. Nearby residents tired of motorists cutting through their neighborhood warranted it.

So it was with little fanfare or discussion that the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization unanimously approved a traffic signal in front of the Park Boulevard home improvement store.

The vote should come as welcome news to the family of Mamie Gustafson, an 88-year-old Seminole woman who was hospitalized for several months following an Oct. 16 accident that occurred as she was attempting to exit Home Depot.

In March, Mrs. Gustafson's daughter, Sandy Holloway, appealed to the MPO board to allow the traffic signal to prevent similar disasters.

Gustafson's wasn't the only accident. According to county traffic data, there have been seven serious accidents in front of the Home Depot over a one-year period ending in February that could have been corrected with a traffic signal.

"There have been numerous accidents there since Home Depot opened up two years ago," said Mitch Bobowski, Seminole's general services director.

But accidents weren't the only source of neighborhood complaints. To avoid white-knuckle left-hand turns from Home Depot onto Park Boulevard, many shoppers use a back entrance off 70th Avenue that empties to a traffic signal at Seminole Boulevard.

"That traffic was never intended to be there," Bobowski said.

The MPO's signal committee expressed concerns in March that the new signal might be too close to the busy intersection of Park and Seminole boulevards. It would be just 1,200 feet away.

On Wednesday, Steve Henry of Tampa engineering firm Lincks & Associates Inc. told the MPO that a new signal would not create a problem.

"We're quite happy the MPO made the decision they did," Bobowski said.

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