PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Community members are making their voices heard about a dangerous road in Dunedin. An organization called Forward Pinellas and the City of Dunedin are partnering to receive feedback and fix traffic issues along Beltrees Street.
Alex Aspuria works at The Bike Lab in Dunedin and loves to ride his bike, but he said it's not always safe near Beltrees Street.
"I don't know who is going to hit me or not," said Aspuria.
He said it's causing issues for cyclists and pedestrians.
"Cyclists are having a hard time right now with this area in general not knowing where they should be riding or not," said Aspuria.
Residents said the big issues are speeding and distracted driving.
"I've had a bunch of close encounters with cars going faster than 25 and blowing through stop signs and street lights and things like that," said Aspuria.
But now the City of Dunedin and Forward Pinellas are trying to help.
"We actually got a grant from U.S. Department of Transportation to help study some areas of concern in areas in Pinellas," said Jared Austin with Forward Pinellas.
Austin said the organization recently completed a walking audit of the street to observe traffic issues.
"It's looking, again, at the data, what the community has heard over the years, what they see from the lay of the land," said Austin.
Residents and business owners said they would like to see some projects like widening sidewalks and projects that will reduce speeding in the area.
"Sidewalks are always congested and things like that, with dog walkers," said Aspuria.
On Tuesday, the city will be holding a workshop meeting to discuss concerns about the street.
Aspuria says both drivers and pedestrians need to be more aware of their surroundings.
"Share the road. Not only share the road, be mindful of everybody around us with seeing people walking, people biking," said Aspuria.
