TAMPA, Fla. — Crews are just wrapping up safety improvements at the intersection of Columbus Drive and 13th Street in Tampa.
“It’s been identified as a top priority for improving our walk and bike network,” said Brandie Miklus, Infrastructure and Mobility Program Coordinator for the City of Tampa.
This project has been in the works for about 10 years.
“It is a roadway that originally did not have any sort of pedestrian accommodations and so what this project does is more of a complete streets project so it accommodates all users,” said Miklus.
There are now wider sidewalks, parking on both sides of the roadway, high visibility crosswalks, flashing beacons, new landscaping, storm wells to help with flooding, and crews narrowed the street to force drivers to slow down.
“It’s only a 30 mile-per-hour posted speed limit road and it’s been a corridor we’ve been wanting to improve for a long time,” said Miklus.
That’s because speeding has been an issue, as well as crashes.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Safety changes coming to Columbus Drive from Nebraska Avenue to 14th Street in Tampa
- Ybor City neighbors pushing for safety changes on Columbus Drive following deadly crash
“Many crashes where it’s involved a pedestrian and so we needed to accommodate safer crossings. That was one of the first priorities for tackling a project like this,” said Miklus.
The City of Tampa is using this project to unveil its Vision Zero Action Plan.
“Vision Zero is a strategy to get to zero. To get to zero pedestrian and bicycle fatalities on our roadways as well as life-changing injuries on our roadways,” said Miklus.
On average, 44 people die and another 289 suffer from severe injuries on roads in Tampa each year.
The city’s Zero Action Plan includes creating:
- safer streets with better planning, implementing safer speeds and expanding the ability for people to walk and bike
- safer people with efforts to educate the public and create a culture of roadway safety
- actively analyzing safety data to track progress
“That is a systematic approach that has it’s not just spot treatments here in there, it’s citywide looking at all the different roads that we have,” said Miklus.
The city is working on making improvements on roadways across the community
Mayor Jane Castor’s press conference on the Vision Zero Action Plan begins at 3:30 p.m.
