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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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“I ride my bike to work every day,” Justin Doyle told me while pouring beers on a hot July afternoon at the Horse and Jockey Pub in South Pasadena. He was responding to my questions about bicycling on Pasadena Avenue, where the pub is located. I’ve biked on the corridor myself many times and have…
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Public Notice Concerning Forward Pinellas, in its Role as Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program In accordance with requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation as set forth in 49 C.F.R. Part 26, as amended, Forward Pinellas, in its role as the Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, hereby notifies the public that…
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On July 13, 2016, Forward Pinellas, in its capacity as the metropolitan planning organization, will hold a public hearing regarding Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) proposed amendments and a proposed amendment of the Public Participation Plan. Forward Pinellas, in its capacity as the Pinellas Planning Council, will hold a public hearing on Subthreshold Countywide Plan Map Amendments…
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The recent vote to support funding for the Tampa Bay Express (TBX) in the Hillsborough County MPO’s Transportation Improvement Program illustrates the difficult choices we face to improve transportation in the Tampa Bay region. The Florida Department of Transportation’s plan to construct variable priced toll lanes on Interstate 275, I-4 and I-75 has sparked much public debate…
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