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Dr. Delay

As congestion grows, so does frustration

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published January 29, 2006

The intersection that is Park Street and Bay Pines Boulevard/Tyrone Boulevard seems to be more congested by the day. Added to the high traffic volume are serpentine turns on Tyrone Boulevard, foot and bike traffic near the Pinellas Trail and motorists navigating the ridiculously designed entrances to Wal-Mart and Target. It's a slam-dunk mess, no question.

A further irritant is the poorly timed lights and traffic lanes that cannot handle the traffic volume. Reader Mike Conway wrote last week in an e-mail:

"If you are traveling along Bay Pines Boulevard toward Park Street heading east and wish to turn left (north) onto Park Street you will notice the long lineup to turn left onto Park Street. I have had to wait as long as five light changes to make my turn. I suggest that the traffic gods install a second left turn arrow to allow two traffic lanes to turn."

Other readers are frustrated with waiting forever to turn in the aforementioned turn lane, only to have their right-of-way violated by folks in the opposing direction turning right on their red light. Another concern in the same area is the odd half-moon gutter cut into the pavement between the median and the eastbound lane of Tyrone. Cars jogging to the right to avoid the sizable storm drain come dangerously close to neighboring vehicles, especially because the hole in the pavement is on a hairpin curve.

Some signs create more curiosity and confusion than I am sure they mean to. I have received numerous e-mails lately about the confusing signs on area interstates. We usually cover this burning question once a year or so:

How far is St. Petersburg from Tampa, really?

Bill Gilbert wrote: "On I-75 south from I-10, a sign indicates St. Pete is nine miles closer than Tampa. It reads: St. Petersburg 125, Tampa 134."

Ian Sellors wrote: "Traveling south on I-75 recently, my wife and I were surprised that the mileage signs, 30-40 miles (perhaps farther) north of Tampa, routinely stated that there were fewer miles to travel to get to St Petersburg than to Tampa. The differences were at least 10-15 miles. This phenomenon also appeared when we were traveling south on the Veterans Expressway. Please explain."

My response to Sellors was that this is the Florida Department of Transportation's way of marking miles on I-75 to the junction of I-275, not to St. Petersburg proper.

Sellors then wondered if such distances marked on highway signs were actually in reference to the distance in miles to the named city's city hall. Interesting question.

Kris Carson of the DOT responded:

"Destination/mileage signing gives the distance to the "centroid' intersection defined for that city (which usually falls close to the location of the city hall). In this case (the sign Sellors noted on I-75) we have a combination of having the I-275 route shield and a city name, hence the confusion."

Sellors has a suggestion: "Standardize these confusing signs and align the mileage to the "centroid.' This change would better reflect the distances and present a more accurate measure to the "uninformed' traveler like myself."

This is a follow-up on the concern a reader raised about the potential safety hazards anglers posed on the Big Island Gap Bridge, also known as the Fourth Street overpass just south of I-275:

According to Kris Carson of the DOT, the department recently issued a regulation forbidding fishing from that bridge. Four "NO FISHING FROM BRIDGE" signs were installed last week. "As for parking along the shoulder south of the bridge, as with other similar areas near mangrove/water access, we cannot reasonably restrict recreational wade fishing in these areas. We can only hope that persons looking for fish bait in these grassed areas would not get dangerously close to traffic," according to the DOT.

I guess it's just going to take some of us time to get used to the new First avenues N and S configurations. But some of us are experiencing more consternation than the rest of us.

Reader Ann Preston wrote in an e-mail last week: "Since the relining of traffic lanes on First Avenues north and south, there have been several very close calls. At the westbound intersections of 34th and 66th streets, the right-hand arrow moves to the right-hand lane. At other intersections, the right-hand arrow stays in the third lane, leaving the bike lane and parking. Recently, as I started to make a right turn, flasher on, from First Avenue S to 64th Street S, a truck pulled into the bike/parking lane, which had been previously right turn and turned into my path. It was only because I was slow in initiating the turn that we didn't collide."

Motorists on these two roadways should keep in mind that many of us are still unaccustomed to the new lanes and are often taken by surprise by the less than smooth transitions. Heightened caution is the best approach, because the bike lanes are here to stay, folks.

Until next week, happy and safe motoring!

NOTE TO READERS: If you are 50 or older and bought a Ford Focus, Freestyle, Freestar or 500 vehicle because you found that getting in and out, visibility and the controls were especially easy on you, please call Times transportation writer Jean Heller at (727) 893-8785. This is for a future news story. Thank you.

Please share your traffic concerns, comments and questions with Dr. Delay via e-mail at docdelay@yahoo.com

[Last modified January 29, 2006, 01:28:20]