TAMPA, Fla. — West Tampa is a close-knit community with a rich history, filled with generations of families.
It’s also an area used as a cut-through for traffic.
WATCH full report by Larissa Scott
“We have incredible amounts of traffic,” said the President of the West Tampa Heights Neighborhood Association.
There are lots of pedestrians here.
“Unlike a lot of other communities, there’s a lot of pedestrians in West Tampa and if drive around you see that,” said Orlando Martinez, who grew up in the West Tampa area.
So we drove around on different days and saw many people walking.
Neighbors told us that the combination of pedestrians and traffic is a problem because they’re lacking sidewalks.
The result is people having to walk in the street, or along driveways and in the grass to dodge cars.
“It is an incredible amount of traffic that we’re dealing with in my neighborhood, and yet we still don’t have sidewalks… I very rarely drive; I’m always walking. He’s [my son] always walking with me, and we’re walking in the middle of the street,” said Jones.
He’s one of many people growing more concerned for their safety.
“I’m holding my biggest concern. My son is growing up, I’m trying to teach him how to respect the street,” said Jones.
Scott Wall owns Los Gringos, a popular neighborhood restaurant in West Tampa. He sees people walking all the time.
“There’s a lot of older folks that don’t drive. They do a lot of walking. So the sidewalks are kind of really imperative. We don’t have enough,” said Wall.
He’s worried too.
“There’s too many people on streets walking that are actually on the streets as opposed to being on a safe sidewalk,” said Wall.
“Especially when we’re talking about folks that are in their 60’s and 70’s and 80’s and may not have the most coordination anymore and sometimes they’re wheeling strollers. Sometimes it’s young moms and there’s a lot of kids that walk past here everyday to go to the school right down the street,” Wall added.
Orlando Martinez grew up in the area and visits this neighborhood every week.
He’s getting fed up.
“It’s become a big issue with me through the years… Something as simple as sidewalks in West Tampa, I don’t see happening,” said Martinez.
A lot of the neighborhoods in West Tampa don’t have any sidewalks.
Then there are parts where you may have a sidewalk for a block or two, but then it suddenly stops.
Or you’ll see newer construction homes that were required to add sidewalks, so you’ll notice incomplete segments of sidewalks in West Tampa.
“We really should have protected pedestrian passageways around all of the cars that exist in my neighborhood,” said Jones.
Neighbors are pushing the city to make their sidewalks a priority.
“Just trying to stay safe, trying to make sure no one gets hit is a real concern that I think everyone feels,” said Jones.
So we asked the City of Tampa about plans to add sidewalks.
The city’s mobility director, Brandon Campbell, said filling sidewalk gaps is a priority for the city, but that they’re working against a decades-long backlog of 1,300 miles of sidewalk gaps across Tampa with limited resources.
“While we are working in a positive direction, adding additional resources to fill in those sidewalk gaps, it’s going to take a long time as we build out that network,” said Campbell.
He told us the city is actively trying to add sidewalks through different resources and methods, and that there have also been recent initiatives to fund sidewalk projects.
“There are a few different funding sources. Some of them have different types of restrictions in terms of areas or how they’re used, but we have a sort of daisy gathering strategy to put together that bouquet and be able to put forth meaningful projects that meet the community’s needs,” said Campbell.
The West River Build Project will also add pedestrian connections in West Tampa
“That project is funded in large part by a federal grant, is going to build not only the west river walk, on the west side of the river, but additional connections along Platt, Rome, Columbus, and then through Ridgewood Park back over the east side to connect into the network,” said Campbell.
He said West Tampa is on the city’s list, it just might take a while to get to it.
That’s something Martinez hopes is sooner rather than later.
“I just hope I see sidewalks in West Tampa in my lifetime,” said Martinez.
If you have a specific concern, the city wants to hear from you. Let them know which areas need sidewalks so they can prioritize accordingly.
You can contact leaders on the city’s website or by calling 813-274-310.
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