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Traffic Calming Hearing Open To Area Residents

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

PALM RIVER - There's a bumpy road ahead for Palm River motorists if residents have their way.

Fed up with cars and trucks speeding through their residential areas, Palm River residents have asked the county's Neighborhood Traffic Control Program to implement traffic-calming measures along Maydell Drive and 16th Avenue.

A public meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Winston Park Recreation Center, 7605 Destin Drive, Palm River, to discuss proposals for putting the brakes on speeders.

Buz Barbour of the county's traffic services division said the two streets are worrisome for residents. Because Palm River Elementary School is on Maydell Drive, children walk and play in the area. Although it is a two-lane neighborhood road, motorists are increasingly using Maydell, which runs between Adamo Drive and Causeway Boulevard, as an alternative to using 50th and 78th streets, where traffic volume has increased.

At the same time, drivers are using 16th Avenue, which crosses Maydell and runs between 50th and 66th streets, as a shortcut around the more heavily traveled roads.

"They're cutting through and driving at high speeds through this area that has a school, incomplete sidewalks, a narrow right-of-way and fairly steep ditches in some areas," Barbour said.

Not only are the traffic problems a hazard to pedestrians and bicyclists, he said, but also residents have difficulty backing out of their driveways.

Under the county's Neighborhood Traffic Control Program, 10 percent of people who live on a given street may file a petition asking the county to look at ways to control the volume and speed. The first public meeting on traffic-calming solutions for 16th and Maydell was June 28, giving residents a chance to voice their concerns.

Based on comments from that meeting, county staff members conducted studies and looked at ways to control traffic. They will make a recommendation to a hearing master at a meeting Feb. 11.

"Residents who are concerned about these roads need to be at that meeting, not only to have their input heard, but we'll be issuing a ballot, and the people at the meeting will decide who's affected and who gets to vote," Barbour said. Once that's decided and the majority of affected residents vote on a solution, that proposal will be presented to county commissioners for final approval.

The biggest concern, Barbour said, is how those measures will affect emergency response times. Every speed hump, the most common traffic-calming measure, delays vehicles by 7 to 10 seconds.

"We talked to the fire chief, and he's in favor of slowing traffic down on 16th and Maydell," Barbour said.

But to maintain effective emergency response times, Barbour said staff members with the Neighborhood Traffic Control Program are looking at putting in speed humps with spaces that match the axles of emergency vehicles. That way, drivers of those vehicles won't have to slow down as much, he said.

Those won't be the first speed humps Palm River drivers have seen - 79th Street and 32nd, 36th, 20th and 12th avenues have them. County commissioners also have approved speed humps for 47th Street from Causeway Boulevard to 24th Avenue South, 87th Street from Birch to Fir avenues and 24th Avenue South from 47th Street South to where it ends to the west.

TIME TO BE HEARD

WHAT: A county public meeting on speeders on Maydell Drive

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Winston Park Recreation Center, 7605 Destin Drive, Palm River

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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