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Hey, Mister, Can We Get A Light?

Photo by Susan M. Green

Southbound traffic on East Bay Road stacks up waiting to turn onto Symmes Road. County officials say a traffic light is planned for the intersection.

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By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

GIBSONTON - If you haven't driven in the neighborhood around East Bay and Symmes roads in a couple of years, you might find the trip a bit of an eye-popper.

New subdivisions, with several houses to an acre, have sprung up along what were back roads through pastures, orange groves and fish ponds not so long ago.

On second thought, maybe you shouldn't check it out, though. Ruby Lewis, who has lived about a mile from that intersection in Gibsonton for 25 years, thinks there's too much traffic already.

She often has trouble getting onto Symmes Road from East Bay. She believes the wreck rate is climbing, and she recalled a recent accident when a car crashed into a homeowner's fence near the intersection.

'It the problem started when they started building all the houses in there,' she said.

The new houses clump together in fenced subdivisions, wedged among the preexisting mobile homes and houses on spacious lots. A Wal-Mart Supercenter opened last year at Gibsonton Drive and Interstate 75, on the community's north side. Lewis said she thinks shoppers and commuters who want to avoid the congestion have discovered a short-cut in Symmes Road, which offers a beeline west to U.S. 41 or east to U.S. 301.

Motorists on East Bay pull up to a stop sign at Symmes, but there's no traffic control there for Symmes drivers. A traffic light is going in at Symmes and U.S. 41, but Lewis worries that will just back up more traffic in her direction.

She thinks it's time for a traffic light at East Bay.

County planners and traffic engineers say it's past time.

A study conducted last year included a review of accidents and traffic volume, said Remy Ogunsola, a traffic services engineer in Hillsborough's Public Works Department.

The study showed a rising number of accidents at East Bay and Symmes over the past three years that could be prevented by a light, he said. An analysis showed three such accidents there in 2004-05, compared with five the following year and nine for 2006-07.

Symmes also met necessary peak-hour criteria to warrant a light by logging about 500 vehicles between 7 and 8 p.m. and nearly 1,100 automobiles between 7 and 8 a.m., Ogunsola said.

East Bay carried about 100 during the peak morning rush hour and about 330 between 7 and 8 p.m.

Craig Mahlman, site development review manager for Hillsborough's Planning and Growth Management, said a light is supposed to be in place by now. The developer of a large subdivision called Carriage Pointe, at Symmes and Ekker roads a little west of East Bay, was supposed to install the signal and accompanying improvements during the project's first phase of development. The light was a condition of the project's rezoning.

The developer sold the land to a builder but did not put in the light, Mahlman said. The county has been meeting with the builder and developer to try to get the work done, he said. He said the next phase can't start until the light is up.

The county holds a $500,000 performance bond from the developer to ensure completion of the project, Mahlman said. The bond expires in February, so if the developer doesn't install the light soon, the county will hire a contractor to do it, Mahlman said.

Representatives of Hillsborough's Planning and Growth Management are expected to discuss the issue Nov. 8 at a meeting of Concerned Citizens of Gibsonton Area. The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. at Gardenville Recreation Center, 6219 Symmes Road.

Duck And Dodge

Several streets in Gibsonton are scheduled for temporary lane closures to accommodate Tampa Electric Co. workers replacing power poles. Work is authorized between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. through Nov. 2. The streets are Alavista Drive and Midway Street, along with Kenlake Drive and Branwood Circle off Gibsonton Drive.

Near Apollo Beach, work crews have received county permits to temporarily block lanes on Big Bend Road east of U.S. 41 to repair the railroad tracks. The work is expected to start Monday and continue through Nov. 3.

For information, call (813) 272-5275.

County Seeks Lithia Input

Hillsborough officials have scheduled an additional meeting to get feedback from residents on the proposed long-range South County Transportation Plan.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at Pinecrest Elementary School, 7950 Lithia-Pinecrest Road, Lithia.

The plan, announced at public workshops in July, has been controversial since final recommendations from working committees were released a few weeks ago. Lithia residents complained that they were left out of earlier meetings held in Riverview and Ruskin. The proposal includes a multilane toll highway through rural communities and construction of several new country roads that opponents say will promote urban sprawl.

A previously announced meeting on the plan is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. today at Riverview High School, 11311 Boyette Road, Riverview.

Communities can request a presentation by calling Ned Baier at (813) 272-5849.

GOT A QUESTION?

Do you wonder why two roads come together as they do? Know about a recurring traffic hazard or bottleneck in your South Shore neighborhood or on your commute? Think you know a way to relieve traffic jams? Call Susan Green at (813) 865-1566 or e-mail sgreen@tampatrib.com with suggestions for 'Getting Around.'

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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