Residents in one Pinellas County neighborhood are concerned about safety when pulling into their community.
- Chuck looks at 62nd Avenue North at 25th Street North
- 10-15 car backups reported, especially during afternoon
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The area of concern is 62nd Avenue North at 25th Street North, between St. Petersburg and Lealman. The county maintains the road and signals.
Voley Martin has lived in this neighborhood for 15 years, and in that time, the number of cars has increased dramatically.
"(There's) a lot more people driving today, but the problem here is the volume of traffic at rush hour," Martin said.
According to Martin, the signals are the problem, specifically during the afternoon ride home.
"And that left-hand lane will be backed up, 10, 15 cars, almost to 28th Street," Martin said.
Only the person in the front of the line can see oncoming traffic, so tempers run high if they don't go. Martin talked about traffic dodging out of line to the right and causing some pretty nasty crashes.
"I would like to see a left turn arrow right here," Martin said. "At the same time, there's a left turn arrow, you have a green through arrow, so the eastbound traffic continues to move, the westbound traffic has a red light."
He also suggests for westbound drivers headed to the mobile home park, a right at the light, then U-turn and return to the signal in order to drive straight across the intersection on the next green light. That's something he's done himself on the opposite side of the road.
Recently, he posted something about the intersection on the neighborhood's community page.
"I got 15, 20 responses from people that have told me they've contacted the county," Martin said. "And the county has told them there's no money, that it doesn't warrant a traffic light because there aren't enough accidents at that location."
Over the weekend, Spectrum Bay News 9 Real Time Traffic Expert Chuck Henson received a note from Tom Washburn with Pinellas County. It turns out, there are two fixes on the way at the intersection. One would be a protected left turn arrow as part of the traffic signal, like Martin is requesting.
The long term solution is to rebuild that portion of 62nd Avenue North to include turn lanes at 25th Street.