Description
The light at Keystone and East Lake Road are causing huge delays for the light at Trinity and East lake. It's taken an extra half hour to get through just one traffic signal that normally would take five minutes. The lights need to be adjusted so keystone doesn't get backed up. Many times I have been turning south bound on East lake from Trinity, I've been stopped and unable to turn due to traffic waiting at keystone. I sit through multiple light cycles just to get through the one light. The traffic clears up after keystone, so I know it's a problem with that light. Please fix! Thanks so much!
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A. mornings, morning-rush
4 Comments
Pinellas County Communications (Verified Official)
Closed Pinellas County Public Works - Traffic Management (Verified Official)
Timing along the East Lake Road/McMullen Booth Road corridor has been studied extensively over the years. Although it may seem like the signal timing changes on a regular basis, it does not. However, traffic patterns and volumes do fluctuate from day to day. In the past, the timing has been adjusted to accommodate increasing traffic volumes entering Pinellas from Pasco County. Some of the congestion was alleviated when intersection improvements were made to Keystone Road. It was, however, short-lived. The Trinity Area, as well as other parts of Pasco County, continues to grow and the influx of traffic into Pinellas County has increased significantly.
Changing the timing to allow more green time southbound at Trinity Blvd (even by a few seconds) increases the back-up two-fold at Keystone Rd. The effect is the westbound traffic from Trinity can’t get through the intersection, because of the back-up. All we can do is try to make the movements equal in delay at these two intersections. The only change made recently was to hold traffic a few more seconds southbound at Trinity in order to meter the flow. This creates a gap between the two intersections and allows the westbound traffic from Trinity to clear the intersection. It also facilitates gaps for motorists wishing to exit the Crescent Oaks Subdivision. This change did not affect the overall travel time for motorists along this corridor.
We have adjusted the phasing and timing as much as possible. Unfortunately there is nothing more we can do to our signal system to improve travel times. We are at the highest timing cycle (250 seconds) allowable. The roadway is at capacity. Consequently, widening the road from 4 to 6 lanes is the optimal solution to alleviate congestion. With this in mind, staff is currently working with the Pinellas County Planning Department to determine the implications of changing East Lake Road’s current designation as a Constrained Roadway. This policy was put in place in the mid-1990’s when the local community opposed the planned six-lane road and it prohibits the necessary improvements.
Reopened Denise (Registered User)
Closed Pinellas County Public Works - Traffic Management (Verified Official)