By Whit Blanton, FAICP One thing we’ve learned from the last two years is the critically important 4-way intersection of community, economics, transportation, and health. Through a global pandemic, economic upheaval, and political and social unrest, our residents, businesses and institutions across Florida and throughout Tampa Bay are adapting to new realities that we did…
By Whit Blanton, FAICP and Angela Ryan At the City of Dunedin City Commission Workshop, Tuesday, December 12, 2021, Mayor Buljalski and her fellow commissioners put their words into action, first with the adoption of the Safe Streets Pinellas Action Plan and then with the approval of a midblock traffic signal at the intersection of…
By Whit Blanton, FAICP Regional leaders formally renewed discussions of developing passenger rail in Tampa Bay with state officials from the Florida Department of Transportation last week. The meeting, hosted by the Sun Coast Transportation Planning Alliance (SCTPA), focused on the rail tracks owned and operated by CSX, the national freight rail conglomerate, renewing a…
By Whit Blanton, FAICP During the last two sessions, the Florida Legislature has introduced and advanced bills that purport to be about pedestrian safety by modifying or restricting use of certain safe crossing devices at mid-block crosswalks. These bills actually run counter to improving pedestrian safety, using a tragic fatality to keep Florida’s roadways “dangerous…
Florida is in the middle of its legislative session for 2021, which ends on April 30. During this time each year, state lawmakers debate whether to pass bills that could have far-reaching consequences for local communities—intended or otherwise. Forward Pinellas tracks bills that may affect how our member local governments plan for land use and…
By Whit Blanton Perhaps you’ve seen them? The fat-tired, bulky framed or squat bicycles with the bulging disk of a heavy, black battery sitting on the rear rack or inside an extra thick down tube. “Everybody’s getting those e-bikes,” I recently overheard from a man walking past a full bike rack on Safety Harbor’s Main…
We are delighted to welcome Amy Elmore aboard as Forward Pinellas’ Communications & Outreach Program Manager. One of the most important things we do as an agency is to work closely with the public and our partners at the state, local and regional levels to develop plans and advance transportation projects that serve the needs…
Sometimes doing a good deed does not turn out all that well in the end. As the 2020 Florida Legislative Session begins, we need to discuss earmarks, those legislator-added line items to the state budget for transportation or other capital projects in a district or county. If your local state lawmaker asks you what projects…
You read about them in the paper just about every day: an elderly man killed crossing 34th Street S in St. Petersburg, hit by a driver at 1:42 AM. Or maybe it’s a young woman, attempting to cross US 19 near Sunset Point Road; stepping in front of a truck driver is all the information we…
While building transportation projects is a contentious process in Tampa Bay, we are not alone in struggling to engage the community and get projects done. I wrote in my previous post about the Florida Department of Transportation’s peer exchange trip to St. Louis for about 20 local representatives, a trip designed to give us a…
One of the first lessons I learned as a consultant many years ago is that every community has its own public decision-making process. What flies by with no commentary in one city can make for contentious late-evening public input and visceral debate in another. Whether it’s advancing a transportation project or making changes to a…
It was probably not how Andy Holcombe wanted to start his first day of an internship with the Philadelphia Phillies. Nor was it my intent to spend part of the morning commute flying over my handlebars and a vehicle’s hood to slam hard into the pavement, but there we were. Although this was just a…