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Drainage finally due for 3 miles of Gulf Blvd.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
© St. Petersburg Times, A 3-mile stretch of Gulf Boulevard will get sidewalks and much-needed drainage. The state Department of Transportation has set aside $1.4-million in design costs for improvements along State Road 699, between Walsingham Road and Park Boulevard. Indian Shores and Indian Rocks Beach, which share the stretch of the boulevard, will apply for grant money to help pay the balance of the $7.5-million project. Costs and competing visions have meant this is the only part of Gulf Boulevard not to be improved during the past decade, said Brian Smith, director of the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization. There is one other section of unimproved coastal road between Sand Key and St. Pete Beach, Smith said, but Blind Pass Road is scheduled for widening. Residents of Indian Rocks Beach and Indian Shores say they have fought for years to reduce hazardous conditions along the stretch, which has no curbs or sidewalks. After a rain, pedestrians must dodge pools of standing water. Impatient drivers have used the road's shoulder as a passing lane. But until recently, state and city officials could not agree on a plan. Two years ago, the DOT suggested a package of improvements, starting with a center turning lane. The $100-million price tag, mostly to buy property to be used as a right of way, proved unpopular with residents. Subsequent plans trimmed costs to $70-million, and later to just under $40-million. But the cities considered the expense too great. Then in April, Indian Shores mayor Donald Taber and Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Robert DiNicola asked Gov. Jeb Bush for help with getting a Gulf Boulevard with storm drains and sidewalks but no third lane, a version the DOT had opposed. By late May, the MPO was on its way to forging an agreement. "Everyone was willing to make some compromises," Smith said. Kris Carson, a spokeswoman with the DOT's Tampa office, said the design work usually takes about a year. It has not begun. Taber said the cities would apply for grant money from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and other sources. Indian Rocks Beach resident Ed Starr, 50, who runs a start-up business from home, said most people favor the changes and won't mind not having a third lane. Connie Savage, a 32-year Indian Shores resident and former vice mayor, said talk of improving Gulf Boulevard has gone on for so long, "I'll believe it when I see it."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
