ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Neighbors and commuters along 4th Street North in St. Petersburg have likely noticed changes in relocated left turn lanes and mid-block crosswalks. However, some nearby fear the changes — meant to improve safety on the stretch of road — may be making matters worse.
Just weeks ago on June 25, one woman died trying to use one of those crosswalks before they were operational. 10 Tampa Bay confirmed that barricades preventing people from using the crosswalks until Wednesday went up after that woman was killed, according to St. Petersburg Police. Kathy Repke was killed when the lights were flashing yellow, which isn't one of the signals used in normal operation.
A year of construction, and more than $7 million later, the new crosswalks and turning lanes are up and running on 4th Street from 30th to 94th Avenue North.
The Florida Department of Transportation and SPPD hope the new changes in the long term will make this road safer.
“4th Street has always been a roadway where we've experienced a lot of crashes in general,” St. Petersburg Police traffic sergeant Michael Schade said.
Like the one from early February when a motorcycle rider was killed near Lincoln Circle SE, cut off by a car turning left.
FDOT said its research shows forcing drivers to make U-turns instead of left turns across traffic is safer.
“I think drivers will get frustrated that a particular median may not be the same way that it's been for them in the past, and nobody really likes change,” FDOT District 7 spokesperson Kris Carson said. “But this is being done for safety.”
But it's a tough sell to Michele Knight, who lives a block away and said the changes have only made a congested road worse.
“U-turns are not safe,” she said. “I have been heading north on 4th Street, turning, and I’ve had somebody do a U-turn and almost take out my back end.”
There are nine new mid-block crosswalks on the four-mile stretch of changes. FDOT is installing them across the state and said they work because they're giving pedestrians more options to cross the street
But many drivers our cameras spotted Wednesday night were caught off guard by the crossing, braking hard when the light suddenly went red, or not stopping at all. FDOT chalks it up to growing pains.
“Motorists just need to watch out for pedestrians,” Carson said. “And hopefully, pedestrians will utilize the crosswalks.”
But in late June, Repke used a new crosswalk before it was ready. As the lights flashed yellow, a car hit and killed her. 10 Tampa Bay anchor Dave Wagner was there after the crash and took video showing no barricades up to prevent people from using it when it wasn’t ready.
Now operational, the lights will remain solid green until someone presses the crossing button and the new intersections. Then the lights will turn solid yellow before turning solid red as the signal changes for pedestrians to begin crossing. Once the pedestrian is through one direction of traffic, the lights flash red to let drivers proceed with caution. Pedestrians must press another crossing button in the middle of the road to stop traffic in the other direction.
“At that point, there were no barricades there for the crosswalk,” Schade said. “The crosswalk itself was marked. The lights were on flash to get drivers used to the new crosswalk being there, but it wasn't fully operational at the time of the crash.
“Is FDOT aware of that, and were there changes made after that fatality to put up those barriers to prevent people from crossing in the mid-block crossings before they were operational?" 10 Tampa Bay’s Chris Hurst asked.
“I’d have to get the police report, and our engineers will take a look at that. I don't know too many details about that,” Carson replied.
“So you don't have any knowledge of that accident and whether it then precipitated putting up the barricades?” Hurst then asked. “Because we saw the barricades that were up but they weren't up at the time of the crash.”
“I'd have to get more details for you, to be honest,” Carson said. “I'm not familiar with that.”
FDOT is working on getting answers for us to those questions. SPPD said Repke's death is still under investigation.