LARGO, Fla. — Alternate U.S. 19 is a major Pinellas County artery that connects St. Pete with Clearwater and other communities along the highway’s length. And right now, Alt 19 is on Forward Pinellas’ radar.
According to Whit Blanton, the executive director of Forward Pinellas, the land use and transportation planning agency is studying how to improve the important corridor.
Though Alt 19 is an important north-south connector, Blanton said it is not problem free. The communities along it have a lack of affordable housing.
The road itself can be prone to traffic congestion and has inconsistent public transportation, which can make it hard to get around for those who don’t have a car.
“It’s not comfortable or supporting for people who walk or bicycle, and there’s a really popular bus route — Route 18 — that serves the corridor, but it takes forever to travel along that because there are so many stops,” Blanton said.
Blanton’s team, however, is trying to reimagine the stretch of Alt 19 from Clearwater to St. Pete. To him, it might be smart to transform old commercial buildings into big needs like affordable housing.
“I just think these older commercial corridors like At 19 are good places to think about doing that,” he said.
Before that can happen, his group needs an overall plan for the area, but even before it can draft one, it needs the people who live, work, and travel through the area to answer some key questions.
“What are the opportunities for redevelopment? What are the opportunities for better transportation solutions in the corridor?” Blanton said. “What can we plan for in terms of housing that’s attainable in the corridor, jobs, redevelopment opportunities that make sense for the communities, and then, how do we build in a transportation solution that serves that greatest number of people?”
There are two upcoming workshops to help him answer those questions.
The first is Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Largo Central Park Performing Arts Center. According to Forward Pinellas, the workshop “is targeted for the northern end of the study area, which includes portions of Clearwater, Largo, and unincorporated Pinellas County.”
The second workshop will be on November 1 from 5 to 7 at the St. Petersburg College Seminole Campus. Forward Pinellas said the second workshop “is targeted for the southern end of the study area, which includes portions of Seminole, St. Petersburg, and unincorporated Pinellas County.”
According to Blanton, as the multi-pronged study progresses, Forward Pinellas will eventually draw up design concepts for portions of Alt 19 that it can present to local governments and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for their consideration.
Read more about the study, dubbed Advantage Alt 19, at this link.
