Forward Pinellas has new board leadership and several new members going into 2017. By a unanimous vote of the Forward Pinellas Board, County Commissioner John Morroni will be serving as the board’s chair, Clearwater Commissioner Doreen Caudell as vice chair, Indian Rocks Beach Commissioner Cookie Kennedy as treasurer, and County Commissioner Dave Eggers as secretary.…
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) – District Seven, invites public participation in and comments on the Tentative Five-Year Work Program for projects scheduled July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2022. Beginning Monday, December 12, 2016, go to www.D7wpph.com to view the Work Program documents, presentations, maps, and submit comments and questions. FDOT representatives will be…
The Board of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) Chairs Coordinating Committee (CCC) will meet on December 2, 2016, at 11:00 am, in the Hillsborough County Building, 601 East Kennedy Boulevard, 26th Floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602, to conduct a public hearing on regional projects and conduct regular business of the…
According to Feeding America, more than 48 million people in the U.S. are not sure where their next meal is coming from. In Pinellas County, Feeding America identifies 16 percent of the population, nearly 150,000 people, as “food insecure.” The numbers are worse for children, nationwide and locally. Nearly one in four of the county’s…
It’s Saturday morning, and Michael Lyman is teaching a class on creating graphic novels. He gestures at a screen filled with giant comic-book panels, pointing to one showing soldiers marching across a bleak landscape. “There’s a lot of space in front. That signifies movement,” he tells the two students in today’s class. “Wider panels indicate…
Two major projects connecting and completing Pinellas County trails have received $7.1 million in funding as part of $44.4 million awarded on Tuesday through the Florida Department of Transportation’s SUN Trail program. FDOT designated $5.7 million for construction to close a gap in the Duke Energy Trail between Chestnut Park and Enterprise Road, a key…
If you ask Joseph Powell, traveling Bay Pines Boulevard can be a perilous endeavor. “I saw four car accidents in three days here last week,” he said. A regular visitor to the C.W. Bill Young Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Joseph relies on public transportation to get around. I spoke to him on September 30 while he…
In the 1950s through the 1980s, the primary transportation focus was on getting people from place to place via automobile. Little attention was given to those walking or riding their bikes. Much of Pinellas County was developed during that time, and our roads and communities reflected that focus. Over the years, local governments countywide have taken…
UPDATE, 10/3: The Florida Department of Transportation has postponed both the Tampa and St. Petersburg hearings to a later date and has announced it will not convert the auxiliary lanes to express lanes on the bridge. We will provide more information on the rescheduled hearings as it becomes available. An average of 72,500 vehicles each…
What transportation projects matter most to a community? That’s a tough question, and the answer varies based on who’s being asked. Yet these are decisions that are essential to the future of our county and region – and that we have to answer every year. When Forward Pinellas began looking at projects to put on…
Florida Safe Routes to School, a program that funds efforts to increase the number and safety of students walking or biking to school, has opened the call for applications. Applications for projects in Pinellas County are due to the Florida Department of Transportation (District Seven) by December 30, 2016. The application is available on the FDOT website. A signature of…
In the wake of failed transportation funding proposals in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, there’s a growing chorus of voices on both sides of Tampa Bay about how we finally figure out a way to pull together as a region to solve our transportation problems. State and local government officials have long advocated for a regional…