ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — City leaders plan to make some major changes to 16 roads in 20 years. The city says this is part of its' efforts to make St. Petersburg more biker friendly.
Right now, crews are working on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, which has been at the center of controversy for months.
"It's going to be a total nightmare," said Ashley Tuttle.
The project costs $964,205. MLK will be down to one lane in both directions and have wider bike lanes once the project is complete.
The city is planning to do the same thing to 15 other roads, including 1st Ave.
Right now 1st Ave. is a three-lane road. The plan is to change it to a two-lane road, widen the bike lanes, and put in diagonal parking in place of parallel parking.
"It doesn't make sense," said Brian Parker.
Some, like Charlie Forsyth, supports the project.
"I'm for cycling," he said. "I think if we add more bike lanes and become biker friendly that's a good thing overall."
Forsyth said he does think this could create a traffic issue in certain areas, but " you can't win them all, right?"
There's no timeline or price for the other projects at this time because they're in the study phase right now. The city is confident they'll all be done in 20 years.
List of streets included in proposal:
• Park Street from Central Avenue to Country Club Road N
• Park Street from Elbow Lane N to the Pinellas Trail
• Central Avenue from 31st Street to Park Street
• Ninth Avenue N from 66th Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street
• 83rd Avenue N from King Street to Riverside Drive N
• 16th Street from 18th Avenue S to 62nd Avenue N
• 28th Street from Interstate 275 to Ninth Ave N
• Fifth Avenue S from 31st Street to 16th Street
• King Street from 18th Avenue S to 30th Avenue N
• Eighth Street/Highland Street from King Street S to King Street N
• Sixth Street S from Ninth Avenue S to First Avenue S
• Third Street S from Sixth Avenue S to Fifth Avenue N
• First Street from First Avenue N to Fifth Avenue N
• 22nd Avenue S from 49th Street to 37th Street
• 18th Avenue S from 37th Street to Third Street
• 54th Avenue S from King Street to Fourth Street
