TAMPA, Fla. — The City of Tampa is looking to make improvements to a portion of West El Prado Boulevard in Tampa.
The city has plans to add bike lanes and sidewalks to a 2.2 mile segment of West El Prado Blvd. from South Omar Avenue to Bayshore Boulevard.
WATCH: Changes coming to West El Prado Boulevard in South Tampa
Currently, the roadway is an existing four lane road with a speed limit of 30 mph.
The project would reduce the lanes from four lanes to two lanes and add a 6-foot-wide bike lane with a 3 foot buffer in each direction.
The City of Tampa hosted an open house on Wednesday. Tampa Bay 28 spoke to several people against the project.
Susan Lane lives about a block from Bayshore Blvd. and has concerns about shrinking the roadway.
"They want to make it into one lane and I drive El Prado Blvd alot and there's always delivery trucks, construction workers and mailmen and lawn crew people so that's really going to block traffic even more," said Lane.
Others expressed concerns about emergency vehicles navigating a one-lane roadway.
"If they want to put in sidewalks, that's no big deal put the sidewalks in, but when you start taking away traffic lanes that are part of a network, that's a big deal," said Steven Michelini.
Ryan Nitzsche has lived on El Prado Blvd. for nearly 10 years. He supports the changes.
"There's a lot of traffic that is going very fast because the road is underutilized. A lot of times cars will look to pass. They can get up to 40-50 mph sometimes," he said.
He believes the changes will make it easier for people to ride bikes or walk their dogs.
"I walk my dog in the neighborhood every day and my kids, we walk to school probably at least once a week so I’m looking forward to the changes. I’m looking forward to just having a safer street to navigate whether we walk, bike or take our car. I think it will be better for the neighborhood," he said.
Tampa Bay 28 spoke to the city's mobility director.
"We are confident that as designed the road will handle the existing demand and has room for growth. The traffic counts that we’ve seen between 2018 and 2024 remain virtually unchanged and range from about 3,000 cars a day to about 8,000 cars a day. As it stands, a four-lane roadway is generally designed to handle about 20,000 cars a day and we have less than half that demand on El Prado," said Brandon Campbell, the city's mobility director.
Emily Hinsdale is president of the Sidewalk Stompers.
She believes the changes will improve safety for children headed to school.
"It installs sidewalks both north and south and the critical safety component is along with the sidewalks, it installs crosswalks at several locations specifically ones that connect to schools," said Hinsdale.
A petition against the project has more than 1,000 signatures.
The petition states, "the project is poorly devised, Manhattan is currently shut down and managing to get in and out of certain Bel-Mar Units is difficult, without access to El Prado navigation will be even worse."
The city said construction is expected to start in June.
For more information on the project, click here.
Share Your Story with Julie
Julie Salomone works to share the issues that matter to you. And navigating the job market is critical to affording the price of paradise. Julie also focuses on the day-to-day issues in Sarasota County, so be sure to reach out to Julie to start a conversation.
.
St. Pete council stalls plan for more residential parking in downtown neighborhoods
The St. Pete City Council has decided not to move forward with a plan to add more residential parking options in neighborhoods like Historic Kenwood.
