With all the fires in South Shore and a presidential visit last week I let my mailbag build up, and it is really full.
Just so you know I’ve got you covered, I figured I’d mention all the questions I’ll be attempting to answer in the next couple of weeks. Don’t stop writing just because you can see there’s a backlog. Questions are the backbone of this column, and eventually I’ll call all the people necessary to get answers to them.
Stuart Cox of Riverview wants to know if there’s any way to make the corner of Berner Lane and U.S. 301 safer for the school children who use it for a bus stop; Judy Ulrich asks about the sudden frequency of low-flying airplanes over her neighborhood; William Gaither of Sun City Center is worried about noisy employees of a local facility speeding up and down Del Webb Boulevard; Jim and Jody Johnson want me to find out why they can’t get county transportation for the disabled to come to Sun City Center; two people who have asked to remain anonymous want me to find out if Sun City Center residents’ golf cart privileges may be in jeopardy if South Pebble Beach Boulevard is connected to U.S. 301; Pat Noelle also addresses the Pebble Beach connection, but her concern isn’t golf carts, it’s being trapped in an emergency if the road doesn’t go through; and Don Lynch is concerned about overgrown landscaping blocking vision at intersections.
Last but not least, there’s Mary Mahey who wrote just to thank me for answering the questions readers send to this column. “This is great stuff. I can really relate to it and it hits the nail on the head every time,” Mary said.
I really appreciate your comments Mary, because it’s amazing how many people take more time to criticize others than to say thanks.
Trying to take the letters in the order they came, this week I have answers for Stuart and Judy.
Louis Miller, executive director at Tampa International Airport, has explained Judy’s question about aircraft noise.
He said that the west runway at TIA was closed for 19 days and reopened May 15. The closing changed air traffic patterns sending planes over South Shore instead of Tampa Bay.
“Flights have now returned to the normal Informal Runway Use Program, which dictates approaches and departures over Tampa Bay to minimize noise to residential areas,” Miller said.
The $13.4 million construction project on the airport’s busiest runway required several changes that definitely would have been noticeable in South Shore.
Air traffic should be back to normal now. I’m surprised more people haven’t mentioned it.
Meanwhile Stuart is worried about the dangerous school bus stop on Berner Lane and U.S. 301. Berner Lane extends west off U.S. 301 into a fair-sized mobile home park.
This area is a problem all the way around because it is so close to three of the busiest intersections on U.S. 301 in Riverview – Gibsonton/Boyette, Symmes and Big Bend roads.
Trying to get in or out of Berner Lane at any time of day is no easy task. During rush hours, it is almost impossible, unless you get very creative and turn right to go left, or begin inching between lines of cars while they’re stopped at a distant traffic light. The problem with doing that, however, is that while one driver may let you get part-way out, the next car behind may not care if he rams you or not while defending what he (or she) believes to be the right to proceed the second the light turns green.
In 1996, ‘97 I had friends that lived on Berner Lane. It was a quiet little place then, where kids rode bikes to each other’s houses and bounced basketballs into a hoop on rollers in the street.
No more.
Until that stretch of road is widened and median and curb improvements made, the children standing on the corner of U.S. 301 and Berner Lane waiting for the bus need to move back into the field that abuts the highway. I know the dew on the grass gets their legs and shoes wet, but there’s no way to safely stand on the pavement and wait for a bus at that corner.
And the bus is not going to go into the mobile home park.
The school system is short 20 drivers in South Shore. They’ve gained two since the last time I asked; five from the beginning of the current school year. With drivers in that short supply, school district officials say they aren’t looking to add any stops, but to eliminate some.
I’m so glad there are people like you, Stuart, who still care about other people’s children. It’s up to us, as drivers, to watch out for those children, and others, waiting for their school buses along the dangerous stretches of South Shore’s roads.
u Send your questions and concerns to me at 3036 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun and the South Shore News, affiliates of The Tampa Tribune