Complaints bring about common-sense solution

By JEAN HELLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 13, 2000

Sometimes miracles do happen. Sometimes the government listens and acknowledges that the people have a point.

Jessie and I have complained, as have a number of you, over the state of the westbound lane configuration on the Miracle Mile of Ulmerton Road. After traffic comes down off Roosevelt Boulevard and moves through the light at 34th street, the extreme right lane was blocked by a crosshatching of white lines, requiring that traffic merge left into a through lane.

Beyond the crosshatching, the lane reappeared as a right-turn-only lane onto Stoneybrook Drive, the access road to several retail businesses, a popular local restaurant and Airco Golf. This configuration meant that vehicles bound for Stoneybrook had to merge left and then move right again to avoid breaking the law.

As everyone knows, lane changes increase the probability of accidents. But worse, enough drivers were ignoring the crosshatching and driving through it that other Stoneybrook-bound motorists were twice endangered, first by merging left into through traffic and then by moving right again, possibly into the path of a less law-abiding driver.

Well, we were through that area last week, and the crosshatching is gone. Now the extreme right lane is continuous, dead-ending in a right turn only onto Stoneybrook. The state roadies came out, looked at the situation and fixed it. Pretty fast, too, for a government agency.

Let's hear an atta-person for the state roadies!

Warning! Warning! Do not read this while eating breakfast! Or lunch, for that matter!

There is some interesting sewer work going on along 42nd Street S between 18th and 22nd avenues (and you thought you would never see the word "interesting" used in the same sentence as "sewer work").

Over the years, sewage and the environment have not been kind to the concrete pipes that carry waste beneath 42nd Street. As Bill Johnson, St. Petersburg's utilities honcho, explained it to us, the pipes run half-full, allowing the buildup of hydrogen sulfide, better known and unloved as sewer gas. There is also a lot of underground water here. When hydrogen sulfide exists in the presence of water, it sets off a chain reaction that creates sulfuric acid.

Over the years, the acid has severely corroded the pipes, threatening a sewer collapse.

"That's something you really don't want to see," said Johnson, and we doubt anyone would disagree.

Rather than tear up the streets to replace the pipes, which would be a much bigger mess than the big mess that already exists, the city is using a new trenchless technology to fix the problem.

First, big bypass pipes were run above ground through the neighborhood for blocks and blocks to divert the sewage. Then the old subterranean pipes were cleaned and allowed to dry out.

Last week, the damaged pipes were subjected to what we will call the Panty Hose Treatment. A long tube of fabric was rolled up at one end of the damaged pipes, much as pantyhose or knee-high socks are rolled up to put on.

Hot water was flushed into the rolled-up tube, stretching it out along the inside of the pipes the way toes push into hose. Enough hot water ran through to fill the pipe and press the fabric to the concrete. This activated an epoxy resin embedded in the fabric. It set up as hard as the concrete it repaired.

"It cures in place as tough as a new sewer line," said Lane Longley, St. Petersburg's wastewater maven.

But that doesn't mean the street mess will be cleaned up soon. There still are two manholes at 22nd Avenue that need to be rehabilitated, a more complex job than it sounds. So traffic will be dicey until November, Longley said.

Jessie picked the Eyeball Jiggler of the Week, uttering a not-too-fierce growl deep in her throat as we drove through the construction zone of I-275 north of Gandy Boulevard. The northbound lanes are one pothole after another, chunks torn out of the concrete at slab seams, mostly. The southbound lanes are damaged, too, but not so severely.

We suppose these aren't being fixed because, once the new lanes are done, the damaged concrete in the existing lanes is scheduled for replacement. And none of the potholes is yet big enough or nasty enough to rise higher than a Jessie rating of Category One. But their sheer numbers make them worth this week's prize.

We got a letter recently from Lori Dykstra of St. Petersburg wondering about drivers making left turns on red lights on streets around The Trop.

Lori said she was particularly concerned with westbound traffic on Fourth Avenue S turning left on red onto Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street. She was headed to a ballgame recently and several cars made those left turns with police officers standing and watching, but they did nothing.

That's because those are legal turns, subject to the same rules as right turns on red. Come to a complete stop. If there is no oncoming traffic and there are no pedestrians in crosswalks, go ahead and make the turn.

This rule applies only to traffic on a one-way street turning onto another one-way street. You can't cross any yellow lines to make these turns.

Speed bumps are coming to a neighborhood near you. This time it is Winchester Boulevard across from Joe's Creek between 54th and 62nd avenues N. Five of the traffic ridges will go in soon. The neighborhood voted overwhelmingly in favor of them, and Pinellas County commissioners agreed.

- Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com, by fax at (727) 893-8675 or by mail at 490 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

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