There have been more than two dozen crashes in just two years at a single intersection in Pinellas County.


What You Need To Know


The problem spot is northbound U.S. 19 at 297th Avenue North.

Ernesto Apfelbaum lives not far from the intersection of U.S. 19 and Curlew Road.

In the afternoon, the amount of traffic northbound approaching that signal is significant and as you can imagine, that means pulling out safely into this traffic from his neighborhood can take a long time.

Ernesto and his wife wanted to bring attention to this spot, so they reached out to the state.

"We couldn't reach anyone,” he said. “They'd leave us a phone, we'd call the phone, we'd leave a message. We never get back. She explain on the phone the situation that we, as concerned citizens, we live."

In roughly the past two years, there have been 26 crashes in the area of U.S. 19 at 297th Avenue North.

In answer to that, the state first painted the intersection with a right turn only marker.   Traffic's answer to that was to ignore the paint and signs, drive straight through and risk being involved in a crash.

Now, delineator poles help drivers see the lane is turn only and the number of crashes here has decreased. Problem solved, right?

Ernesto says two more have been created in the process.

"I don't know why. I don't know the reason why they did the deviation here,” he said. “I don't know. But there is a blockage."