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Growth turned country road into thruwayBy JACKIE RIPLEY © St. Petersburg Times, published November 24, 2000 CARROLLWOOD -- Getting in and out of Shaw Place early in the morning is a lot like pushing a pig through a python. That's because there's only one way in and out of the 74-home subdivision, and that's down Shaw Road, a once-quiet country lane. "We got caught by surprise," said Anthony Duque, who has lived on Shaw for 15 years, long before Shaw Place was built, and when one home per acre was status quo. "It was flat-out greed." Duque said when the Veterans Expressway divided 64 acres at the end of Shaw Road a developer built 74 homes on half the parcel; Shaw Road became the only way in and out of the subdivision, and a neighborhood's lifestyle was forever changed. "The developer told us we're lucky they didn't build apartments," Duque said. Now neighbors, many of whom have lived for years on one-acre-plus lots on Shaw, say speeders, traffic congestion and noise have invaded their once peaceful neighborhood. "The county caused the problem," Duque said. But "they haven't done anything to cure it." Duque said he would like for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to post a deputy on Shaw to ticket speeders and that he would like for the county to allocate a third traffic-calming hump on the road. Hillsborough sheriff's officials, however, say they have conducted speed checks and traffic counts on Shaw and have found no evidence to justify commiting a concentrated patrol there. "The speed didn't justify sitting there for any length of time beyond routine patrol," said Hillsborough sheriff's Deputy Dominick DeSiato. "There are many places in the county that have flagrant violations with as many as 7,000 cars going by. Those are the spots to concentrate our effort." Last year, neighbors succeeded in getting two traffic calming humps installed on Shaw, but say they haven't stopped speeders. "They speed the 700 feet between the two bumps," said Bill King who has lived on Shaw for 38 years. "I'm way back off the road but I can still hear motors gunned at three in the morning." Duque, however, is not way back off the road. In fact, after the county widened the road to accommodate the increased traffic, he said "my front door is almost in the right of way. I no longer have a lawn in front of my house." In order to buffer his house from the noise, Duque built a 4-foot concrete block wall -- all the law allows -- but he plans to pile on another couple of feet. "I'll go to jail," Duque said. "There's no way I'll let the county tear it down." Duque, who said "they widened the road toward me," is redesigning his 2,000-square-foot home to help buffer the sound. "A lot of people don't have children and don't realize they're speeding," said Virginia Fischer, who lives across the street from Duque."They think it's a main thoroughfare. They need to slow down. It's a quite little street. They should respect that." -- Jackie Ripley can be reached at (813) 226-3468 or ripley@sptimes.com.
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