First Avenue S is third to get thinner

Central Avenue and First Avenue N already have become narrower. It's meant to slow traffic and lend more of a village feel.

By JEAN HELLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- City workers have started on the final phase of lane reconfiguration on the three main streets through downtown, and officials say the work will be completed by the end of the month.

The first phase narrowed Central Avenue from four to two lanes and created angle parking and a speed limit of 15 mph.

Then First Avenue N was shrunk from four lanes to three, with the addition of parallel parking and a bicycle lane. Now First Avenue S is getting the same treatment.

It is part of the city's effort to slow traffic through town and give St. Petersburg more of a village than big city feel.

"We didn't want to do all three corridors at the same time because we didn't know what sorts of problems we might encounter," said Angelo Rao, the city's transportation and parking services director. "We did have some line-of-sight issues with the angle parking on Central, and we had to back off a few spaces as a result."

The new lane configurations on First Avenue N will, within a few days, get raised reflector markers to improve visibility at night and in bad weather. The same reflectors will be imbedded in First Avenue S after the new lines are painted.

For the time being, Rao said, there will be no change in the 35 mph speed limit that both First avenues carry as far west as 34th Street.

"My personal feeling is the speeds are too high," Rao said. "But we didn't want to come to any unfounded judgments, so we will study it awhile and see how it goes. For the time being, the speed limit stays the same."

The narrowing of the streets is accompanied at many intersections by what the city calls "neck outs," bulges that extend sidewalks out into what used to be street area, almost like the narrowing at the top of a bottle.

Traffic studies have showed that when drivers' perspectives shrink -- fewer lanes of traffic, narrower intersections -- they slow down.

"We'll see if it works," Rao said. "We've had some comments already from people who just say they don't like the way the streets have been changed, but nobody has mentioned any specific conflicts or problems."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.