PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The City of St. Pete is trying to make neighborhood roads safer. A recent policy change will now allow more neighborhoods to qualify for speed interventions.
"One of the ways to build the community back is making sure that people feel safe outside," said Franklin Alves, who lives on 13th Street.
Franklin Alves said that’s one thing 13th Street Heights in St. Pete is missing: The feeling of safety.
"We want people to be able to feel safe on this street, we want kids to be able to play on the street," said Alves.
Andres Cintron lives along 13th Street and said people drive recklessly in the neighborhood.
"A lot of people are just crossing through the stop signs, they aren’t even stopping and rolling, some of them are literally just evading the stop sign," said Cintron.
He said speeding is a big problem.
"Here on the South side, there is no speed bumps all the way for three roads that you’re crossing over to get to 14th Avenue without any calming measures," said Cintron.
In the past, the neighborhood has applied for speed interventions, but was denied by the city. But now, the criteria for installing speed humps and lower speed limits is changing.
"That policy has existed for decades and this is our first time reviewing it for as long as I’ve known of," said Richie Floyd, city councilman.
Criteria for speed humps currently requires 15% of drivers to be speeding over 35 miles per hour in one direction. Now, however, speed humps will be considered if 15% of drivers are speeding eight miles per hour over that neighborhood's speed limit.
For example, if the speed limit is 20 miles per hour in a neighborhood and 15% of drivers exceed 28 miles per hour, that neighborhood would qualify for speed interventions.
According to city data, in 2024, out of 110 requests for speed interventions in neighborhoods, only 14 qualified; the new criteria should help increase that number.
"There's something really important about letting neighborhoods decide the infrastructure that happens in their community and giving them more flexibility to have that," said Alves.
Councilman Richie Floyd said he’s had many residents contact him asking for help installing speed humps in their neighborhoods, and that changes to the criteria are a long time coming.
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