Intersection leaves road chief shaking his head

By JEAN HELLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 2000

Jessie and I are always on the lookout for bizarre traffic configurations, and Irene Harris has pointed out a small one that we have traveled ourselves, always in wonderment. As in: What in the world were they thinking??!!

It is the intersection of 66th Street and First Avenue S. A busy intersection, this, what with traffic pouring down from the congested Tyrone area. Southbound traffic on 66th first must crawl across Central Avenue, which, if it were our call, Jessie and I would nominate for Eyeball Jiggler of the Week or EJW. Central has developed a formidable crown that threatens your front bumper on the way up and your undercarriage on the way down.

Then, the two southbound lanes become one. The left lane is crosshatched out and all traffic must move to the right lane despite the fact that 99 percent of the cars want to make a left onto First Avenue S, which is one-way eastbound.

Now, I ask you, does this make sense? Why do you have to move into the right lane to make a left turn?

Irene, obviously a competent amateur traffic engineer, asks why a left lane couldn't be established for left-turners and the right lane made available for the few cars that want to go across. Good question.

We asked St. Petersburg's traffic guru Angelo Rao who, at first, couldn't even picture the intersection. So he drove out to take a look. Twice.

"That is a very strange situation," he told us later. "That must have been done years and years and years ago before any of us. Forty percent of that entire block is a gore area (an area of pavement on which you are not supposed to drive). It's very strange. It doesn't make a lot of sense."

Angelo said he and his staff are working on a couple of ideas to reorganize the lanes. He isn't sharing those ideas yet, but he knows we're watching. Don't you, Angelo?

And, Irene, Angelo says thanks for the tip.

In case you haven't noticed, the city traffic gurus have closed Second Avenue N between First and Second streets to through traffic, and it is going to remain closed for at least the next two months. But it is for a good cause.

The city is improving six intersections in that area, doing brickwork and streetscape in support of the Baywalk entertainment complex. Expect traffic to be squeezed down to a lane in either direction in some adjacent blocks, although the one block of Second Avenue is the only one slated for complete closure.

Except . . .

First Avenue N between First and Second streets will be closed starting tomorrow for five days while workers complete the new parking garage that will serve Baywalk.

Jessie thought you should know.

Well, we've been out two mornings in a row now chasing potholes y'all have nominated for Eyeball Jiggler of the Week and, frankly, we're confounded. Charlotte Moore and Lynn Lewis suggested Ninth Avenue N between 49th and 50th streets in the westbound lane.

When Jessie and I drove by, we could see that there had been a pothole there of some dramatic proportions in the recent past, but the city spoiled all our fun by getting out quickly to fill it in. The pavement is smooth. We would take all the credit, but we didn't do anything, though it's okay if you want to think we did.

Jessie did come out of the seat, however, when we hit a major dip in the road on Sixth Avenue S between Third and Fourth streets. Curb lane eastbound. She insisted that this be the EJW, and we couldn't argue.

By the way, Evelyn Rosetti at St. Petersburg's Public Works Administration asks me to tell you that if you encounter a dangerous pothole or depression in the road, you can call 893-7111 and report it to the Mayor's Action Center. They got right on a situation we wrote about a couple of weeks ago, a pothole on 18th Avenue N at 66th Street. It has been fixed.

We're not sure who would fix this, but Larry Osterman of Kenneth City thinks you should know about it, and after going out to take a look ourselves, we agree. If you are westbound on 37th Avenue N approaching 81st Street, you will encounter a stop sign nearly obscured by dangling tree branches.

Given how fast everything grows in Florida, it might not be too many weeks before you can't see the sign at all. The dangerous part is that this is not a four-way stop, so 81st Street traffic just shoots through. If someone crossing on 37th Avenue misses that stop sign, there's going to be glass and metal in the street. It's a residential neighborhood, but 37th Avenue is an often-used shortcut between Tyrone Boulevard and Park Street.

The same sort of problem exists at the stop sign for the southbound lanes of Fifth Street S at Third Avenue. Huge stop sign with a big red light on top. But you won't see it for the tree branches until you're right on top of it.

And if you are driving around Tyrone Square Mall, keep an eye out for a temporary electronic sign asking people to pull off the road to engage in cellular telephone conversations.

"It's just a reminder for people who don't have a hands-free phone," Angelo Rao said. "I'm guilty. I've caught myself driving and talking on the phone. I've even dialed while driving. It's awful. I'm embarrassed. You really should pull over to make or take a call."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.