Two studies look at traffic safety near USF

[Economics_Nerd82]

Interesting. I would love to see the area along 42nd street become more pedestrian friendly. Perhaps wider sidewalks and more trees. Same for 50th street. Although, this really has nothing to do with the article.

Traffic safety near USF a concern

TAMPA — Officials want to make the streets around the University of South Florida safer for pedestrians, people on bicycles and those who ride the bus.

Consider this: Fletcher Avenue from about 22nd Street to USF has had 11 vehicle-vs.-pedestrian crashes in the past three years.

Seven people were hospitalized. Two died.

Now go back one more year and look at 22nd Street, too. The number of people killed crossing those roads rises to four.

"It is one of the highest in the county (for pedestrian accidents) and right now is on our priority list," said Buz Barbour, the county's general manager for traffic programs.

So county officials have begun a pedestrian safety study of Fletcher from Interstate 275 to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. The study will consider street lighting and traffic conditions. Officials hope to have it finished by fall and say it could include recommendations to the County Commission for improvements.

But officials also believe more public education is needed.

"The problem is that they're crossing the roadway everywhere," said county public works spokesman Steve Valdez. "They're not going to intersections. They're just darting across the roadway on the whole stretch."

With an average of 52,000 cars and trucks a day using Fletcher between Nebraska Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, it's a given that there will be a lot of traffic.

"We need to do a public education campaign, more than just the signs, to talk to folks and let them know it's not safe to be pushing your baby across the street in the middle of the road," he said.

But studying Fletcher Avenue is just one thing officials are looking at to improve safety in the USF area.

Next week, local officials will hold a public meeting on creating Hillsborough County's first "multi-modal transportation district."

It would be called that partly because many residents, students and workers already use various modes of transportation to get around.

The area also has a lot of public facilities — USF itself, University Mall, four hospitals, plus schools, parks and businesses — that drive traffic and put a strain on parking.

The district's proposed boundaries are Sinclair Hills Road and Bearss Avenue on the north, I-275 on the west, Fowler Avenue on the south, and N 56th Street on the east. Officials want to generate ideas that make it safer and easier in that area for even more people to leave their cars at home.

"We're not going to be widening roads out there," said Ned Baier, Hillsborough County's manager of transportation planning.

So creating the district means considering alternatives.

And officials plan to look at things in small scale: Where are the gaps in sidewalks? What residential streets should have bike lanes? Where should bus service be extended?

Establishing the district would require the approval of the state Department of Community Affairs.

But once done, local officials hope to use money generated by transportation impact fees and the concurrency fees paid by developers for improvements other than adding new traffic lanes.

The initiative has support from the New North Transportation Alliance, a local group focused on alternative forms of transportation.

"In our urban environment, we have to think about sidewalks, we have to think about bicycle lanes and we have to think about things like turn-out lanes for the bus," University Mall general manager Tom Locke said.

Officials plan to hold the first meeting on the district at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the University Area Community Center on N 22nd Street. They expect to hold another meeting in four to five months when they're close to finishing the proposal. Once the USF area district is done, they plan to look at creating a similar district for Brandon in 2010.

The benefits of creating a multi-modal district would reinforce each other, advocates say.

For example, improving the environment for walking encourages more people to take mass transit, said Sara Hendricks, a senior research associate at USF's Center for Urban Transportation Research and the alliance's interim director.

And safety is key.

"One of the primary goals is to encourage more use of non-motorized transportation," Baier said. "To encourage it, you have to make it safe. If there's a safety problem, or if it's even perceived that there's a safety problem, people tend not to change their ways. They tend to stay in their vehicles."

Richard Danielson can be reached at Danielson@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5311.

FAST FACTS

If you go:

What: Meeting to discuss an effort to make the area around USF less dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and those who use mass transit.

When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday

Where: University Area Community Center, 14013 N 22nd St., Tampa

http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/two-studies-look-at-traffic-safety-near-usf/1032958

[Donno]

how many of those car vs. ped occurred between 22nd and BBD or 30th?

Because I will discount those numbers, it is hard to dodge cars while you are pushing a shopping cart with all your possessions errr moving in the middle of the night!