Last Tuesday morning, I got up with the sun for an unusually early appointment.

I don’t usually fight the crack-of-dawn traffic. Not having far to drive, I was surprised by the amount of stress fitting into those few miles.

The worst of several incidents was being in front of a giant, silver, gas-guzzling SUV whose operator blared horn and extended middle finger when I didn’t turn onto Bayshore fast enough for his or her liking.

Talk about anger-management problems. When I was able to safely turn, the offended driver clung to my heels and then sped off down the boulevard, veering between cars.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I am beyond fed up with this kind of exaggerated, dangerous behavior. If you’re a perpetrator, cut it out. If you’re a victim, lead by example.



Beating the horse

I know, I know.

There’s not much left to say about the Bayshore Boulevard/Howard Avenue pedestrian crossing. It simply is, and ever shall be.

A few parting shots caught my eye in last week’s batch of e-mail. One anonymous writer expressed bewilderment at how the city could spend $200,000 on “so little,” and referred to the Bayshore Beautiful neighborhood signs as “a sheer waste of taxpayer funds.”

The e-mail did commend new sidewalks, but otherwise looked down at improvements on the boulevard. “I have driven through the Howard intersection many times since the new signal was installed and have not once seen it red,” it reads.

That makes two of us.

Michele Heitlinger wrote in to describe some confusion she witnessed around the intersection.

Apparently, a few motorists turning left onto Bayshore from Howard stopped in the crosswalk, and then turned into Bayshore’s middle lane. Poles previously used to prevent this drift were removed to accommodate the crossing, and it seems some drivers are getting mixed up.

“I know they will work out the kinks,” Heitlinger wrote.

Whew. Let’s hope so.

This final note from faithful reader A.J. Brent got right to the point.

“The real issue remains: a light was never necessary,” Brent opines. “Thousands of dollars have been spent, thousands of hours have been wasted (with the perpetual Bayshore Task Force), and we have sign pollution rivaling Dale Mabry Highway.”

He points out, as many others have, that no one is really using the crosswalk. “They’re just crossing where they always have: anywhere and everywhere. And thousands make it safely across everyday.”

At least, Brent wrote, the mayor made the signal pedestrian activated.

“Can you imagine the anger from motorists, stopped for no reason at all?”

Touché.



The final countdown

South Tampa resident and fellow artist Katy Alderman sent me an e-mail last week with concerns about the traffic light at MacDill Avenue and El Prado Boulevard.

Basically, she feels the signal is too short for comfort, especially during the morning commute.

Heading north on MacDill each day, Alderman often sits through several light cycles without getting anywhere. Cars lined up some seven or eight deep are unable to turn left, because the signal changes to red within 30 seconds – not enough time to squeeze through the southbound lane.

This timing links up with figures I got from Scott Keith at the city’s transportation department.

MacDill and El Prado is currently half cycled, which means the intersection gets 60 seconds to run through an entire round – or 30 seconds each way.

At 10 p.m., it drops to 50-second cycles, giving 25 seconds to traffic in each direction. Several intersections to the north and south of MacDill and El Prado are full cycled at 120 seconds per round.

With the shorter cycles, “everybody gets serviced faster,” Keith explained. “There are more cycles per hour, so you’re moving more traffic and allowing side streets to be serviced.”

I asked when the last traffic count was made to determine these durations. Records list the MacDill/El Prado signal timing as being set back in 2000, but Keith thinks it may date even earlier.

I related Alderman’s complaint, and Keith said the city would look into it. The investigation could reveal morning traffic timing that’s in need of a little tweaking.

“It’s far enough away from Gandy or Bay to Bay that we could probably do something from there,” he said. “It may not necessarily be coordinating with locations north and south.”

Another potential solution is to bump the cycle at MacDill and El Prado up to 90 seconds at certain times of day.

Right now, Keith’s department is in the process of relocating and the staff is stretched thin. They’ll look into it, but don’t expect changes until after the move, at least a few weeks from now.

I’ll keep you posted.