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Fatal Crash Renews Concerns

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By ANGELA DELGADO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

Updated: 10/01/2007 09:33 pm

WESTCHASE - A recent fatal accident on Countryway Boulevard brought attention back to safety issues on the busy road.

On Thursday, John Holland Jr., 16, a sophomore at Alonso High School, was driving a sports car north on Countryway. He lost control of the car, hitting and killing Robert Jeff Baughman, 49, who was headed south on a motor scooter, deputies said. The sports car then went into a pond. Holland and passenger Trevor Ekovich, also a sophomore at Alonso, escaped uninjured.

At the scene of the accident, a woman displayed a letter from county officials concerning an upcoming vote by local residents on traffic calming plans.

Robert Wood, with Hillsborough County's Public Works Department, said 10 citizens wrote to the county in December 2004 with concerns about speeding on Countryway Boulevard. Public meetings followed, with the county receiving input from the community on whether they wanted traffic calming solutions implemented and what types of solutions they would favor.

Traffic-calming devices include speed humps, speed feedback signs and lane narrowing.

At the most recent meeting regarding Countryway Boulevard, held in April, the public was informed of what devices were selected and where they would be placed, should residents approve of them.

Plans for ballot area one - which includes 30 homes on Woodbay Drive and residents on Glencliff Circle, Rockport Place and Seabrook Drive - call for the installation of a raised intersection at Glencliff and Countryway and a raised crosswalk at the trail south of Glencliff.

Plans for ballot area two - which includes residents on Peabody Lane and part of Marblehead Drive and Clear Harbor Drive - call for installation of a raised intersection at Countryway and Peabody.

Plans for ballot area three - which includes residents on Ashville Drive, Keswick Place and Chambers Drive - call for a raised intersection at Countryway and Ashville.

At the meetings, some resident have said they want the devices installed, but others said some of the devices wouldn't work.

Ballots were sent out Sept. 10 to the 239 residents living in the three affected areas. They have until 5 p.m. Oct. 10 to return the ballots, Wood said.

Sixty percent approval for each ballot area is required.

If the proposals pass, the county commissioners must approve them before installation may begin. Wood wasn't sure when the commission would vote on the matter, but once approved, it could take 30 to 60 days for construction to start, he said.

'It's a long, arduous process,' Wood said. 'We have to make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.'

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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