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Merchants welcome road work
By KATHERINE GAZELLA
© St. Petersburg Times,
"It needs to be done, so we're not worried about it," said Comstock, who owns the Court of Two Sisters on Tarpon Avenue. "We're happy about it." The city will close the road between Ring and Pinellas avenues beginning Sunday night. Construction is expected to end about Aug. 26, said Judy Staley, research and information specialist for the city. That means there will be no road access to the city's downtown stores and restaurants for about a month. Traffic will be detoured onto Lemon Street. Parking still will be available at a city lot at Pinellas and Tarpon avenues. Sidewalks on Tarpon Avenue will generally remain open during construction. The sidewalk immediately adjacent to Safford Avenue will be closed at times. Merchants were given the option to do all the work at once or divide it into two parts. They decided for the all-at-once approach, Staley said. Keystone Excavators of Oldsmar will be paid about $67,000 for the project, said Randy Dault, purchasing director for the city. The improvements include construction of crosswalks at Tarpon and Safford Avenues, sidewalk kickouts to calm traffic at the intersection, ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, storm drain upgrades and work on the brick, concrete and asphalt. The changes are designed to make the crosswalks more accessible for pedestrians and to slow traffic at the notorious intersection. Police and city officials say many people speed through the intersection, potentially endangering pedestrians and bicyclists who use the Pinellas Trail, which runs down the middle of Safford Avenue. Something has to be done, said Comstock, who regularly witnesses speeding on Tarpon Avenue at the intersection and says traffic is awful. "They're doing it so nobody's going to get killed," she said of the planned improvements. Comstock plans to close her shop for the first two weeks of August. Other merchants said they will offer incentives to get customers into their stores. Skip Larson, who works at Antiques Forever on Tarpon Avenue, said his store will try a variety of sales techniques to get customers in the door. "It's going to be quiet," he said. "We're going to try to do things weekly to stir up foot traffic." In spite of the inconvenience, some merchants said they are glad that the city is making improvements to downtown. They said they hope for more improvements in future years. "Once they're done, it should be real nice," Larson said. The city will hold meetings Thursday mornings to update the community about progress at the intersection, beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at Danny K's restaurant at 118 E Tarpon Ave. - Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
TARPON SPRINGS -- Cindy Comstock knows closing Tarpon Avenue could hurt business at her antiques shop, but she still looks forward to the massive construction project that will close part of the road for a month.
