traffic your number one priority
Two weeks ago, we asked you what should be the city of tampa’s number one priority? Here’s how you answered:
- traffic/transit: 58%
- well-managed development: 11%
- downtown: 7%
- crime: 5%
- taxes: 5%
- image: 5%
- growth: 4%
- corruption: 2%
- homeless: 2%
- potholes/maintenance: 0%
- citizen services: 0%
You added both “downtown” and “well-managed development.” I have no idea what you meant by “downtown,” but no matter. Traffic wins by a long shot. “Development” got second place.
So now we’re gonna address your number one concern.
What exactly is the traffic/transit problem? How do we begin to fix it? I’ll take nominations for a few days, and we’ll get the new poll up there on Mondayish.
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March 23rd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
When they say downtown, I think they mean urban development: better density, better pedestrian conditions to aid downtown retailers as well as other things to improve the attractiveness of downtown as well as it’s livability/useability
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I know you are gonna dislike my saying this —but we need to enable our police officers to ticket the SLOW drivers. I’m still convinced that variable speeds cause accidents and its those morons in the left hand lane going 62 on i-75 that should not be allowed to drive.
Just My two cents.
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Lee, are you kidding???
Did you know that Tampa has just become the number one city for the most traffic related accidents due to people going 20-30 miles over the speed limit, or people way too inpatient running through stop signs, and lights?
I do not drive, but I have had many drivers who have cut me off, or even come close to running me over when I had the right away at the stop light at street crossing. Those are the drivers I would like to see arrested, and behind bars.
Brandon Pride
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I think downtown is from those folks who live in Tampa. St. Petersburg and Dundein and Safety Harbor all have one.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Overhaul the bus system. It needs to be revamped to move everyone not just aimed at citizens who don’t own cars. It needs to be a viable alternative to driving.
Transit incentives, park-and-ride lots, eventually aim for a complete intermodal system.
Light Rail. Light Rail. Light Rail
Dramatically increase enforcement. Red-light running is worse here than anywhere I’ve driven in the past 5 years.
Two-way Florida and Highland.(I know, but I had to throw this one in.)
Implement a dynamic/”smart” traffic light/traffic management system. The timing of lights on many road seems extremely “off” if you drive the speed limit.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:25 pm
PS..Well-managed development was my add-on, though perhaps I could have come up with something a bit clearer. Tampa needs some carrot-and-stick development incentives to increase densities in the core, foster commercial development to support the increased densities, and maintain the “historic” and diverse character of established neighborhoods, while discouraging sprawl, McMansion-style gentrification, and corridors of retail blight.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
All of what WP said X2.
March 24th, 2007 at 3:35 am
Light rail/Monorail system around downtown/westshore/airport/south tampa/seminole heights/usf, 24 hour service, REGIONAL TRANSIT(Pinellas, Pasco, HIllsborough), get the people from the Burbs to the Jobs(Westshore/Downtown areas), simalar to what was down ages ago in Long Island, NY - Commuter Rail!
March 24th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Crackdown on speeding/reckless driving
March 24th, 2007 at 9:06 am
How much of red light running, reckless driving and speeding are due to frustration with crowded & inadequate streets and highways? Why equate economic growth with more construction? There must be another way to promote a healthy economy.
March 24th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Barring some major shift in current trends(maybe after a couple of really bad hurricane seasons, but that would be a whole other set of problems), people are coming to Florida whether we like it or not. That growth should be actively managed, not just allowed to “willy-nilly” spread suburbs north, east, and south. Roads will never keep up, much less catch up to the transportation demands of an ever-sprawling pattern of development. The shortsightedness of many of our local “leaders”(read:those 5 members of the BOCC) is mind-boggling. The roads are inadequate because we have no viable alternatives but to drive. I’d rather those frustrated drivers channel their energy into creating solutions(writing their leaders, attending meeetings, etc.)than vent their frustrations by violating both the laws and standards of common sense and endangering the lives of my friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
March 25th, 2007 at 11:37 am
The “fix” is already in place, but people just drive so mindlessly, it doesn’t matter.
-Slow cars keep right
-Pass on the left
-Use blinkers for ALL passing and turning
-Keep your eyes on the road 11 seconds ahead
Traffic doesn’t flow because of some magical engineering solution. Traffic flows when people focus on driving predictably and efficiently.
March 25th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Traffic is a problem, and it isn’t because of slow drivers or people running red lights. The problem is due to heavy volume on a poorly designed highway system unable to handle it.
As for the downtown “problem”, Tampa does not do enough to attract businesses to move to the area. Not the downtown area, but Tampa (and Tampa Bay) in general. Repeal taxes for everyone and target an industry to relocate.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Rachael you’re basically describing social engineering, and unless you regulate drivers to the maximum there will always be too much interpretation of what constitutes “slow” and “passing” and exactly how far down the road one needs to keep your eyes on is circumstantial(they’re called “rules of thumb” for a reason). You would have to take the human being completely out of the equation to eliminate all distractions, differences in driving ability, personal interpretation, personal schedules, etc. to allow for anything near the carrying capacity of a given road. All of those rules are certainly a part of the solution, but even if we all magically drove by them tomorrow, we would still have serious traffic issues.
Left turn lanes that fail to empty during heavy traffic periods causing cars to continually back up into the through lane is an engineering problem. Lights that are timed to stop,at several intersections in succession, a driver accelerating normally and is driving the speed limit, is an engineering problem. Throughout the day varying volumes create pulses and ebbs that a dynamic traffic management system can address. Additionally, the biggest problem is volume, and the physical limitations of roads. You can only build so many of them, and can only widen them so much. The only “real” solution is fewer cars on the road. Fewer residents and visitors, more carpooling, or alternatives to driving, are really the only ways to achieve something close to sustainable transportation.
I find it interesting now, that your solution is following the rules while not so long ago you lambasted a blog poster for “sandbagging” because he stopped to bear witness to an accident caused by someone’s violation of the rules.
March 25th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
WP, what Rachel* describes is not social engineering, it’s called common sense and rules. And she is 100% correct. Driving is not rocket science, but unfortunately I think they now issue driver’s licenses as the prizes in Cracker Jack boxes.
The most stressful part of my day is hoping that I am going to make it to and from work every day without getting hit. I drive on the right, pass on the left and actually read signs. The guy passing me at 90mph in the left lane on the Howard Frankland does not bother me; the guy driving 60mph in the left lane does. I fear for my life every time I have to enter the interstate at 45 mph; wondering if I will get smashed in the rear by someone doing 70 (the speed limit). I also wonder why people follow those lines on the right side of the street (you know, that tell you the outside of the street). Instead of reading the sign that tells them that the lane ends in 500 feet, they follow the line until the end and cause traffic jams because they merged poorly.
Nope, no social engineering needed. Traffic and tansportation in this are is a huge issue. How about making it a privelidge to drive, instead of a right? How about if you could only drive if you followed the rules? Unfortunately, all of the common-sense challenged people would need a way to get to work. And now we’re back to square one. Light rail system, anyone?
-Kevin
March 25th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Kevin, common sense isn’t as common as we could hope. I thought we were discussing realistic solutions. I agree if we could establish Utopia and set the rules and have some punitive consequence for not following them, it would solve the problems. However in the situation you describe, the guy doing 90mph in the left lane is violating the rules while a person doing 60mph may or may not be. He or she is not if he is passing someone doing 59mph, yet many cases the latter scenario is more dangerous. The minimum speed limit on the Interstate is 40, merging at 45 is entirely within the rules. Personally I think the 15-35mph range in speed limits on the Interstate is a big source of the problems in themselves, but you can’t argue the solution is in the rules if you relax only those that suit you.
Where did you learn to drive? Who taught you? I think in Florida just about anyone over 35 was taught by their parents both good and bad habits with no standardization. Not bloody likely to change those behaviors overnight, maybe in a generation or two. Driver’s Ed from what I’ve heard was only slightly better, with a lot of personal interpretation by the instructors. The only minimum standard is a written test with a 70% passing score(correct me if I’m off on that please) and a practical “standards” test by an overworked, underappreciated government employee. Should the standards of driving be set higher, I think so, but we have to have alternatives for those that don’t earn the privelege or lose it. Will you willingly submit your driver’s license the first time you have a momentary lapse and violate a rule? We are all human and as good a driver as I like to think I am, I will admit to having a bad day and doing something stupid on rare occasions. Unlike a lot of people(why do so many people get agressive and downright nasty when they just ran a stop sign/redlight, or made some other infraction), it makes me feel pretty bad when I realize it.
To solve the problems the ways you describe we would have to change the behavior of an entire society built around this entitlement to drive, and/or completely overhaul the laws and procedures of the entire nation. I would say that would be a pretty major social engineering endeavour. Extreme enforcement of the rules as written would have postive results, but would not alleviate all of the problems, again the rules are too vague or open to interpretation.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
PS For the record, I am a pilot. The minimum standards and oversight for operating an aircraft is significantly greater, and penalties for mistakes much more severe. Anyone who has flown through Atlanta knows that even the strictest adherence to the rules is little guarantee when the infrastructure itself is overburdened.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
WP - Stay on topic with me, huh? You obviously have interesting insights on this subject, but don’t wreck ‘em for me by bringing up irrelevant shit from months ago. I didn’t object to the rule-following with that post - I questioned the motives.
Cute that you remember even my comments, though.
March 26th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Rachel, if I misunderstood your earlier intent, I stand corrected and apologize. Your response on this topic came across as rather glib, particularly when it appeared to contradict my interpretation of your much earlier comment.