Join drive to clear up the signs of confusion

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

Let's see, it says here in Robert's Rules of Order (Bob's Helpful Hints, to his friends) that we need to clean up old business before we proceed to new business.

So let us return to something we've been discussing for the past two weeks and which we promise not to mention again until news compels us to do so: the on-ramp from eastbound Roosevelt Boulevard to southbound Interstate 275.

The state roadies were as good as their word. They told us last week that the two-lane entry ramp to the southbound interstate would reappear within days, and it did. There is no longer a merge on the entry ramp itself. The right lane does merge left eventually, but not until you're well down the highway.

Huzzah!

This subject first arose in a discussion of why people were fighting to get into the extreme right lane of Roosevelt to enter the interstate, only to be forced to merge immediately back to the left as the right lane ended. Why, we wondered, didn't drivers just stay in the center lane of Roosevelt, which gave them the option of getting onto I-275 or continuing east?

Several readers suggested it happened because the Roosevelt signage confused them. The signs say the exit to St. Petersburg is to the right and traffic in the right lane must exit to the Interstate. This sounds, the readers said, as if drivers had to be in the right lane to get onto southbound I-275.

We drove by several times to look, and it didn't seem confusing to us, but it might to people not used to that stretch of road. Nonetheless, the hint of ambivalence led us to wonder: How many confusing road signs are there in the county?

We would nominate one, the sign at the west end of Ulmerton's Miracle Mile that tells drivers the right and center lanes are exits only onto Roosevelt going toward St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

This is a fib. The center lane gives you the option of turning onto Roosevelt or continuing westbound on Ulmerton.

Tell us about your favorite confusing street sign. Send it to us by one of the means at the end of the column. Who knows? We might get some of them fixed.

You must be 18 or older.

Void where prohibited.

New Jersey residents must be accompanied by an adult.

And another thing. We are coming to the end of the summer growing season, and we know there are shrubs, bushes and trees out there that are covering critical road signs, such as stops, school warnings and speed limits.

We'll give you an example. A reader we know only as Marilyn sent us to look at the intersection of 14th Street N and 77th Avenue. She said that 14th Street traffic approaching 77th Avenue had to pull out into traffic to see if there was oncoming traffic from the left because a large shrub was obstructing the sight line.

Sure enough, we were half way into the oncoming lane before we could see that there was no traffic eastbound on 77th. It was not a comfortable position -- sort of like trying to pull into an intersection past St. Petersburg's angle parking. If nobody hits you, you know there was no oncoming traffic.

If you know of an obstructed intersection or an obliterated sign, let us know. We'll start listing them, and we're willing to bet somebody will get out and cut back the overgrown foliage.

The fender you save could be your own.

Jessie thanks you.

We have a dangerous situation we want to warn you about. It comes from a St. Petersburg reader who gets up a whole lot earlier than Jessie and I do under normal circumstances. I finally dragged Jessie off her beanbag bed to go with me to take a look one morning, and what we saw was a bit scary.

In the teeth of the commuter rush, traffic westbound on Roosevelt trying to move into the right-turn lane into Carillon faced the daunting challenge of semitrailers, garbage trucks, school buses and other large vehicles coming off northbound I-275 and trying to move all the way right to left across westbound Roosevelt traffic to get into the left-turn lanes onto southbound 28th Street N.

The day we sat out there and watched, almost none of the big guys seemed willing to give an inch to the Carillon traffic, even though to have done so would not have impeded their progress by an inch or a second.

Even during all the years we lived in Washington, D.C., where traffic is notorious, drivers developed their own courtesy at these types of merges. They alternate vehicles. One from the left lane goes, then one from the right lane, etc. Eventually, everyone gets where they want to be with a minimum of dented fenders and blood-pressure trauma.

Surely, if drivers in the nation's capital can reach this sort of accommodation, we can.

Where, we are moved to ask yet again, are standards?

And now, drumroll please, it is time for the Eyeball Jiggler of the Week, the moment we pay homage to flaws in the pavement that threaten orthodonture and bridgework alike.

This week's is on 83rd Avenue N just west of 14th Street in the eastbound lane. Something has taken a huge bite out of the pavement. We were on top of it before we could act to avoid it, and it knocked several hairs out of Jessie's scalp.

Holy haircut, Batman!

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

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