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Residents Want A Simpler Fix For Intersection

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 27, 2008

Updated: 02/25/2008 07:22 pm

KEYSTONE - About 45 residents attended a meeting Thursday night at the Keystone Recreation Center to discuss planned safety improvements to the intersection of Race Track and Boy Scout roads.

It marked the second time the intersection-improvement proposal has gone before the public, and it will not be the last.

County officials, after hearing from nearly all residents in attendance, decided to go back to work to draft a simpler fix for the intersection they say is dangerous.

Jacksonville's Arcadis U.S., the engineering firm for the project, came to the meeting with the recommendation for construction of a roundabout.

"We felt we owed you another meeting," said Shawn Hiers with Arcadis. "Money is not the main issue. Safety and capacity - those are our main concerns."
Arcadis and the county originally came to Keystone in October with three proposals: a "no-build," which would leave the intersection as is, traffic signalization or construction of a roundabout.

There was no consensus at that meeting, but questions were raised. Arcadis returned Thursday with more detailed mock-ups of how traffic would flow with a roundabout or a traffic signal.
Hiers recommended the roundabout option. He said it would provide increased safety over a traffic signal because it would reduce chances of T-bone collisions.

The report from Arcadis also cited 42 accidents at the intersection between 2002 and 2006.

"I've been in this business for almost 30 years, and I've not seen as dangerous an intersection," said Angelo Rao, traffic engineer with Volkert and Associates, an independent consulting firm based in Tampa.

Hillsborough County brought Volkert in to review Arcadis' findings and conclusions. The consulting firm concurred with Arcadis' recommendation of a roundabout.

Rao criticized the traffic-signal idea.

"We're one of the highest red-light-running counties in Florida," he said.

Arcadis' findings estimated a roundabout would handle traffic volumes in the area going forward 20 years.

Most residents were not convinced and voted against the roundabout idea, citing concerns that drivers would not know how to properly use them.
Hiers said comprehensive fliers would be passed out to residents living along the roads, explaining how roundabouts work. Residents countered that drivers speeding to and from Tampa Bay Downs are the problem, not those who lived near the intersection.

Anne Winograd's mother was airlifted from the intersection after a car accident six months ago. She began a campaign shortly afterward to bring attention to it.

She supported neither a traffic signal nor the roundabout plan but instead a reworking of the intersection with improved yield and stop signs.

After residents spoke, Sam Halabi with the county's engineering division, said, "I think the most reasonable way to go about it is to go into an interim solution. We'll make a modification to the existing system."
Hiers said a lesser option had not been considered in Arcadis' plans, but it would be.

The cost for traffic signals is estimated at $1.13 million. A 60-foot-diameter roundabout would cost $502,000.

Halabi said an estimated cost of a simplified option will be presented at the next meeting, which would take place within the next three months.

Once a plan is adopted, Halabi will recommend it to county commissioners for final approval.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2010.

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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