Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Carver City/Lincoln Gardens

Residents wary of proposed transit hub

At a meeting with state planners, residents express concerns about safety if the hub is located at Jefferson High.

By SHERRI DAY
Published May 13, 2005

State planners want to connect the Tampa Bay area with transportation hubs that would serve as a nexus for regional and local travelers on bullet trains, buses, streetcars, taxis and light rails.

But residents near the West Shore Boulevard business district oppose the plan, particularly if planners try to erect a transit center at Jefferson High School.

Public safety concerns, overcrowding and existing gridlock make the proposed development a bad fit for the neighborhood, Carver City residents said.

Daisy Akiboh, a longtime Carver City resident, said she didn't want more traffic.

"It's going to double or triple," she said. "And you're talking buses and trams, including everything that's already out there that's a mess. We just don't want to be closed in. It's all congested right now."

Akiboh and members of the Carver City/Lincoln Gardens Homeowners Association met with state Department of Transportation planners on May 5 to discuss the agency's proposals for a transit center, which would handle local travel in their neighborhood.

Planners are considering two sites, the parking lot of Jefferson High School and an old dairy farm on Spruce Street, DOT project manager Jerry Comellas said.

"What I was trying to gauge at the meeting the other night was what would be their preference," Comellas said. "What I heard is they'd much prefer the Spruce Street facility."

Comellas said his staff has not chosen a site. He plans to hold a public hearing on June 28 at Stetson University.

"We have to hear from the whole community; that's our goal as far as making the decision," he said.

The West Shore proposal is part of the state's intermodal transportation plan for the Tampa Bay area. Transportation officials began studying the area in 2003 with an eye toward creating transit hubs in heavily trafficked areas.

Last year, state officials identified six sites that could benefit from regional or local transportation hubs, which could have offerings ranging from high speed rails to bicycle traffic.

Comellas and his staff culled the list of potential regional transportation hubs to a single site in Pinellas County near the old speedway property on Ulmerton Road and in downtown Tampa at the old jailhouse property on Morgan Street.

The Carver City site would serve as a transit center, linking pedestrians, taxis, buses and light rail customers, Comellas said.

After the public hearing, Comellas' recommendations will go to the Federal Transit Administration for final review.

Regardless of the FTA's decision, which could come by November, residents should not expect to see transportation hubs any time soon. None of the proposed sites has been funded for construction, Comellas said.

Sherri Day can be reached at 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 12, 2005, 00:28:09]