South Tampa a bicyclist's challenge

In what should be a biking mecca, riders find virtually no lanes, no trails and few plans for any. Some blame the city.

By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 15, 2002

South Tampa is no paradise for bicyclists.

Peter Dilts sports the cracked bones to prove it.

In 1990, a motorist blew through a red light at MacDill Avenue and Azeele Street and hit Dilts broadside. The impact split his bike in two and tossed him from one side of the street to the other. He escaped with a broken leg.

Three years later, a motorist southbound on East Davis Boulevard on Davis Islands jerked left into a northbound Dilts, leaving the Hyde Park telecommunications consultant with a separated shoulder.

"He said the sun was in his eyes," said Dilts, now 55.

Accidents like those are why Tampa is considered one of the worst cities in the country for bicycle safety. South Tampa, with virtually no bike lanes or trails, is a big part of the problem.

And yet, South Tampa should be a bike mecca, bicycle advocates say. The weather is good; the scenery sublime. Many routes offer glimpses of historic neighborhoods or sun-dappled water.

A health-conscious population lives close to work. Parks, groceries and restaurants are an easy ride away.

"The potential for bicycling is extreme," said Gena Torres, bicycle coordinator for the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission.

But the infrastructure isn't there.

And for the foreseeable future, it won't be.

Only one new bike lane is on tap: a one-mile stretch on Manhattan Avenue from Euclid Avenue to Gandy Boulevard. It's slated for construction in 2005, when that section of Manhattan will be widened from two lanes to four.

Additional bike lanes on Bayshore Boulevard are being considered, too. But at best, they're years away.

Torres blames the city.

It misses opportunities to add bike lanes when roads such as West Shore Boulevard are widened, she said. And even though it could add bike lanes by restriping wide roads such as Platt Street, it doesn't.

Making South Tampa bike-friendly would result in fewer cars, less pollution and fewer accidents, advocates say. Citywide, some 500 crashes between cars and bikes each year are serious enough to be reported to authorities, Torres said.

It's not money that's holding up improvements, she said. "It's the mentality."

Not so, said Elton Smith, the city transportation manager.

Tampa is spending millions of dollars to better cycling options, Smith said. In North Tampa, he noted the trail lining Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

But in built-out South Tampa, the opportunity to make similar improvements is "fewer and farther in between," said Smith, an avid cyclist who puts in 100 miles a week.

It's also a matter of priorities. Consider this, Smith said: When South Tampa neighborhoods tell city officials what they want, sidewalks and speed bumps top their lists.

Requests for bike lanes are rare, he said.

Nobody knows exactly how many thousands of bicyclists there are in South Tampa. But they're not hard to find.

In her downtown office, Torres keeps photographs of dozens of bicyclists she stopped while they were riding. She wanted to hear their stories. She cringes when city officials tell her there aren't enough bicyclists to justify improvements.

Add more bike lanes and more people will start pedaling, she said. "I know they're out there."

On weekends, bicyclists glide along Bayshore and atop the Friendship Trail Bridge. In the mornings, they slice through Davis Islands in a loop considered by many to be the safest in South Tampa.

"If you know where you're going, it's not so bad," said Dilts, who still rides 25 miles every day.

Plenty bike to work, too.

Don Moore, 34, a distribution clerk at Tampa General Hospital, bikes from East Tampa to Davis Islands.

Kevin Timons bikes from Palm River to the Channel District.

At rush hour, Timons, 52, surges ahead of crawling cars. "I'm like, 'Bye,' " said Timons, a salesman for Amazon Hose & Rubber Co.

Some ride because they can't afford a car. Some do it for recreation.

Bill Bonney makes pit stops at El Pilon on MacDill Avenue after riding from Bayshore Boulevard to Picnic Island and back again.

Bicycling in South Tampa is great, he said, except for "shards of broken Budweiser bottles" and "pot holes large enough to consume a semi."

"I have friends who refuse to ride because it's such a scary place," said Bonney, 57, a psychologist who specializes in pain management.

Others ride for health or environmental reasons.

"I don't want to be a fatty," said Nancy Grove, 60, a Davis Islands resident who pedals to her TGH nursing job.

"I just like to . . . live a little more green," said Ed O'Dea, 27, a computer technician.

O'Dea bikes every day from South Tampa to St. Petersburg.

Elaine Adams' route is shorter, but no less fulfilling.

On weekday afternoons, she bikes from her job at TGH to Hyde Park, where she picks up her 9-year-old son, Jake, after school.

On their way home to Davis Islands, their noses get a treat: the smell of fresh loaves baking at the Wonderbread factory on Horatio Street.

Early next year, city crews will begin widening West Shore Boulevard to add a lane between Gandy Boulevard and Prescott Street in Port Tampa.

But the widening won't bring new bike lanes.

City officials said they didn't want to encourage bicycles on a road brimming with hundreds of heavy trucks every day.

"Bicyclists would be squeezed," said Smith, the transportation manager.

Bicycle advocates see another missed opportunity.

Trucks are "all the more reason" to include bike lanes on a road already used by bicyclists, said Torres with the planning commission.

City officials have long-range plans to link the Friendship Trail Bridge, Picnic Island and Bayshore Boulevard with trails, bike lanes and greenways.

Some bicycle advocates think bike lanes on West Shore would have furthered that vision, but the city hopes to channel bikes down Manhattan Avenue instead.

The city and cyclists are more in synch on another project -- the possibility of southbound bike lanes on Bayshore.

The city has applied for state and federal grants. But even if grants are awarded, new lanes will hinge on public input, Smith said.

Also under consideration: the possibility of reducing car lanes on Bayshore between Rome Avenue and the Davis Islands bridge. If lanes are trimmed, bike facilities might be added, Smith said.

Expect more details in the spring, he said.

Until the infrastructure improves, bicycle advocates say finding safe routes is trial and error.

"You really have to pick and choose," said Jim Fleming, who chairs a local Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

Even then, there are no guarantees.

In the 10 years since Adams, the TGH employee, began biking, she's had her share of spills, including one that left a nasty bump on her head and knocked out her hearing for a week.

Still, bicycling brings too many benefits to quit, she said.

While motorists zip down Bayshore, she and son Jake scout for dolphins in Hillsborough Bay. Once, they spied thousands of horseshoe crabs nesting in the shallows.

In a car, Adams said, "we would never have known they were there."

-- Ron Matus can be reached at 226-3405 or matus@sptimes.com .

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