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Two beach roads may be one-ways
By LESTER R. DAILEY
| Article published on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 |
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CLEARWATER – City officials are turning their attention to the most efficient ways to route traffic in the South Beach section of Clearwater beach now that it appears that, after decades of false starts, a public parking garage will finally be built on the island.
Members of the City Council met individually with Paul Bertels, head of the city’s traffic operations department, and discussed a proposed plan to make Coronado Drive one-way southbound and Hamden Drive one-way northbound at their Oct. 19 work session.
The primary objective is to prevent traffic tie-ups caused by vehicles entering and exiting the public and private parking lots and garages in the area. A secondary objective is to have through-traffic use the Coronado/
Hamden corridor, thereby relieving congestion on the scenic South Gulfview Boulevard beachfront route, which currently averages 8,306 vehicles per day. An added bonus is that the plan is expected to reduce the response time for emergency vehicles.
“I think this is a good idea,” Mayor Frank Hibbard told his colleagues.
“We really don’t have a choice with the garages going up,” Vice Mayor Paul Gibson agreed.
Coronado, currently a two-way street that carries an average of 9,103 vehicles per day, would have three southbound lanes and parking on its eastern side, and the traffic count is expected to drop to 4,816 vehicles per day. Hamden, which currently carries 1,358 vehicles per day, is predicted to see its traffic count jump to 5,645 vehicles per day.
Merchants on Coronado are expected to oppose the plan, which will cut the traffic count on their street
nearly in half. Merchants on Hamden, where the traffic count will quadruple, are expected to support it. But Gibson said that once the plan is thoroughly explained to the merchants, he hopes they all will support it.
“I never thought the problem was with the tourists because they don’t know where they’re going and drive slow anyway,” Councilman John Doran said, adding that opposition to the plan is more likely to come from local residents.
Residents of Devon, Brightwater, and Bayside drives may object to their local traffic patterns being disrupted, but city staff said that there will actually be less “vehicular conflicts” because motorists coming out of side streets or pedestrians crossing Coronado or Hamden will only have to watch for traffic coming from one direction.
For a project that will have such a major impact on the traffic patterns of Clearwater Beach, Bertel’s plan is minuscule in cost and scope compared to most road projects. The only cost will be about $10,000 for signage and markings, down from a previous estimate of $22,000.
“We would do this over one evening,” Bertels said.
The council members all agreed that the work shouldn’t be done during spring break, but they couldn’t agree on when it should be done.
“Personally, I think we should do it before spring break,” Hibbard said.
Councilwoman Carlen Petersen went a step further, saying it should be finished before December. Doran disagreed, saying it should wait until after spring break.
But before the project is begun or even approved, the council members said, it needs to be explained to the public. Hibbard suggested a “Department of Transportation-style” meeting where residents drop in to chat with staff and peruse display boards in the next few weeks.
“We’ll get a meeting scheduled for the beach and go from there,” Hibbard said.
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Article published on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
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