© Tampa Tribune, published August 19, 1999

Speed cut, but no light on roadway

By KATHY STEELE

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Highway officials hope a slightly lower speed limit will make West Hillsborough Avenue safer for motorists.

Highway officials see no reason to install a new traffic light along a dangerous stretch of West Hillsborough Avenue, but they will drop the speed limit by 5 mph.

Signs posting the new 50 mph limit will be planted on the roadway within the next two weeks, said Marian Scorza, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Transportation.

The change affects a 2-mile stretch between Memorial Highway and Silver Mill Drive.

The decision bucks a recommendation from the department's own engineer, who said the present 55 mph limit was appropriate and should remain.

"It's a recommendation. It's not written in stone," Scorza said.

It was one of several recommendations included in a recent traffic study.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has been asked to beef up enforcement when the new speed limit goes in to effect, she said.

The transportation department decided on the lower speed last week after a meeting with Commissioner Ben Wacksman, and residents Joan Landrum and Bruce Murakami.

Landrum's son, Mark, 15, was struck and killed in 1994 while crossing Hillsborough Avenue just west of Elliott Drive. Murakami lost his wife, Cindy, 45, and daughter Chelsea, 11, in November when their van was struck broadside as it pulled out of the Publix shopping center.

They spearheaded a petition drive that to date has collected 4,019 signatures. The petition asks for traffic lights in front of the shopping center and in front of the Tampa Shores/Imperial Key subdivision, and a cross walk at Elliott Drive. Petitioners also wanted a speed limit of 45 mph.

"A light would take care of the problem," said Landrum, who is president of the Tampa Shores/Imperial Key Civic Association. "It would bring traffic to a dead stop. I don't see why they can't see that."

She's more than skeptical about the 50 mph speed cap. Landrum said she's seen cars zipping along at 70 mph and hasn't seen that many tickets handed out.

"They'll start flying through there again when they know patrol cars are gone."

Since 1993 at least six motorists and pedestrians have been killed on West Hillsborough Avenue between Tampa Shores Boulevard and Halifax Drive.

However, the transportation department says that's not the whole picture.

The agency's recent study compared collisions at Elliott, the entrance to Publix and Longboat Boulevard, which has a light. Between January 1996 and December 1998, there were 44 collisions at Longboat, 21 at Elliott and eight at the Publix plaza, including the accident that killed Murakami's wife and daughter.

The data doesn't support installing a light, Scorza said.

"Many considerations have to be met," she said. "You have to look at the whole roadway."

Murakami said he is encouraged that the state road department is at least listening to people's concerns. An earlier traffic study paid for by developers of the shopping center supported installation of a light, he said. But an updated report will be provided after a review of the latest traffic data.

Until then, Murakami said he'll reserve judgment.

"Whether [the light] is the whole answer, I don't know," he said.

DOT is looking at other options that may be tried in the next few months, Scorza said. One possibility is preventing left turns into the eastbound lanes of West Hillsborough from Elliott and the plaza.

"Obviously we wanted a little more. We're not going to give up yet," Murakami said. "I'm confident we're heading in the right direction."