Courthouse Traffic Fix Planned By Carl Wagenfohr CLEARWATER – The long-awaited fix to the roadways that surround the Pinellas County Courthouse in downtown Clearwater will soon be implemented. The opening of the new memorial Causeway Bridge in 2005 diverted beach-bound vehicular traffic from Cleveland and Drew Streets onto Court and Chestnut Streets. The expected improvement in traffic flow didn't quite materialize however, as signal timing issues and courthouse pedestrian traffic snarled eastbound traffic even on weekday afternoons. A fix was developed jointly by the City of Clearwater, Pinellas County and Florida Department of Transportation in the spring of 2007. The cost of the project, then estimated to cost $395,000, was to be shared equally by the city and county, and construction was to have completed before Spring Break 2008. Paul Bertels, Clearwater's Traffic Operations Manager, sought Council approval of the project at Monday's worksession. It consists of: New mast arm signals on Court Street at Osceola and Oak. Those signals will be run by a single controller and effectively operate in unison. Sidewalk widening and installation of bollards with chains to “herd the pedestrians to their proper crossing points” according to Bertels. New and realigned pedestrian crosswalks to minimize conflicts with vehicular traffic In an effort to ease traffic exiting the courthouse at the close of business, dual left turn lanes will be constructed from southbound Oak onto eastbound Chestnut. New westbound Court Street lane assignments approaching Ft. Harrison, with a left/through combination lane on the left, two through lanes in the center and one right turn only lane on the right. Signal retiming at the Ft. Harrison intersections with Court and Chestnut, giving east and westbound traffic priority over north/southbound Ft Harrison traffic. The total project cost based on the low bid from Semper Fi Services, LLC, is $626,257.76. Pinellas County and the city will split the bill equally. Bertels expects work to begin on November 1st, with a 120-day construction period. Because FDOT has required that it not adversely affect traffic flow, construction will occur mostly at night and lane closures will occur only between 8 pm and 6 am.

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