Tired of the miles and miles and miles and miles and…well, you get the point…miles of orange barrels, flashing barricades, concrete barriers, and almost daily lane reconfigurations that have been gridlocking various sections of US19 between Gulf-to-Bay Blvd and Enterprise Road for years? Of course you are; I am. Who isn’t?

Well, if you’ve been purposely avoiding the dreaded mess that is US19 by taking the alternates (and clogging them up, too, thank you very much), your need to shun will soon to be over. With the majority of overpass construction completed by mid-November the travel time between Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and the Countryside area will be cut dramatically, from a 15-20 minute slow crawl on a moderately heavy day to a quick three-minute clip. The reason for the speed-up? Three overpasses that take traffic over congested Drew Street, Old Coachman Road, and Sunset Point Road. And it’s not just north/south commuters and mall-hoppers that stand to benefit; anyone who was used to the dreaded long lights crossing US19 at those three intersections will experience more relaxed crossing and quicker light cycles.

A stillborn 1970s plan for a Pinellas Country tollroad linked to the I-275 Interstate system combined with the area’s explosive growth in the past three decades put a heavy strain on local roads. What highways that were driven rather lightly in the preceding years became clogged and gridlocked in short order. US19 grew from two to four to six lanes to try and keep pace with North Pinellas’ needs, but each expansion only led to further growth. Soon, spillover traffic from curbside strip malls and communities eviscerated any extra capacity gained and the vicious

By the late-1990s, US19 developed its own reputation for being decidedly user-unfriendly. Cars displayed bumper stickers reading “Pray for me, for I drive US19” and several intersections – notably, the one with Sunset Point Road – made national news as among the top 10 deadliest in the entire nation. It was soon decided that something drastic needed to be done to improve the quality of the highway system.

Started in earnest in 2003, the upgrade to an Interstate-style road system almost didn’t happen at all. Back in 2001, the state of Florida earmarked an additional $50 million to kickstart the overpass expansion project after some through convincing by local representatives. If it weren’t for that injection of cash, the FDOT wasn’t intending on starting the reconstruction until at least 2008. Bully for our local government leaders who saw the need for ASAP action.

Five years later, the project is nearly complete. And though FDOT officials say that most of the work will be done by mid-November, some ancillary work including lane striping and median design at Sunset Point and Old Coachman may drag on until January 2008. Further down south in Pinellas Park, work on improved interchanges at 110^th and 118^th avenues began about a year ago and won’t be finished until late 2009. At that point, the vast majority of US19 from northern St. Petersburg to northern Clearwater will be high-speed limited-access highway, reducing travel times and making life just a bit easier for commuters.

Now, how about some light rail? Too much to ask?

Post by Brian