The money finally has been found to pay for lane changes and traffic lights at the dangerous entrances to Clearwater Christian College and the Courtney Campbell Parkway beach in Clearwater.
Motorists will see work on the area begin later this month.
Getting traffic signals in the area has been a long and difficult road paved with tragedy. Clearwater Christian College tried for more than a decade to get a traffic light at Damascus Road, which leads north off the causeway to the college campus. College officials had worried about students pulling out onto the causeway, where westbound cars travel at more than 55 mph. Accidents had proved the potential hazards of the maneuver.
Equally dangerous was the driveway into the mostly unregulated beach across the causeway on the south side. The unpaved, eroded, steep drive was shared by cars coming onto the beach and leaving the beach. Motorists leaving the beach had to drive up the hill and onto the highway as cars approached from the west at high speeds. The beach driveway had long been a hazard and a prime spot for serious accidents. Still, nothing was done.
But the death of 19-year-old Laura Lamby, a promising college student, in a March 2002 accident at the beach exit led to more intense lobbying for a traffic signal. The city of Clearwater hired a consultant to study the area and recommend solutions, then began working to persuade the state Department of Transportation that something should be done to improve safety on the state road.
In November 2002, the county's transportation planning board, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, approved the new signals for the area. MPO members traditionally are tough when it comes to signal requests, recognizing the need to minimize traffic lights and move traffic smoothly and quickly in traffic-choked Pinellas. However, it was obvious that more people would die along the Courtney Campbell unless something was done.
Why the long delay from November 2002 until now? Bids for the project came in stunningly higher than expected. In 2002, Clearwater public works administrator Mahshid Arasteh estimated that the total cost of the project would be around $200,000. Instead, the cost of the "deal" approved last week by the Clearwater City Council was a whopping $620,528, most of which will be paid by the state.
When the project is finished, signal lights will stop eastbound traffic on the causeway to allow motorists to enter and leave the beach area via separate, improved driveways. Westbound traffic also will be stopped so motorists can access the college and the beach. David Nelson Construction Inc. will do the work and expects to be finished in about six months.
That means that the dangerous conditions around the beach driveway will continue through the busy summer months. As an interim safety measure, city and state traffic engineers should consider substantially lowering the speed limit on that section of the causeway. Doing so would not only improve safety, but start training motorists to expect slowdowns until they are clear of the beach and college campus.
