After multiple crashes, Clearwater residents push for safety improvements to busy Drew Street
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Neighbors around Drew Street in Clearwater said they’ve seen too many crashes over the years, and they are ready for safety improvements to the busy state road.
"Drew Street equals Safe Street" signs line parts of the road in support of proposed design changes by the Florida Department of Transportation. Barbara Fisher lives on a corner of Drew Street, and she said she’s seen several crashes outside her window.
"Accidents like crazy, they took out of the corner of my garage. I was standing at the window with a cup of coffee looking out the window and I hear bang. Fortunately, no one was injured, and there was a baby in the car," said Fisher, who said that crash happened about five years ago and there was another outside her home into the golf course across the street.
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Fisher is one of many residents in that area pushing to make Drew Street safer for everyone.
"Drew Street’s been going on since 2017, and I’ve gone to all the meetings," said Fisher.
Neighborhood associations have approached organizations like Forward Pinellas for help over the years.
"This corridor does have a disproportionately high number of crashes compared to other corridors throughout Pinellas County," said Chelsea Favero, the planning manager at Forward Pinellas.
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Since 2017, Forward Pinellas said traffic studies show Drew Street or State Road 590 is considered Dangerous by Design by Smart Growth America. Favero said the city of Clearwater approached Forward Pinellas for a grant and to do a traffic study. Then the city approved a concept plan for the lanes and Forward Pinellas prioritized the project with funding coming through for construction around 2024.
Favero said the road averaged about 500 crashes from 2020-2022. That’s about 170 crashes a year, and about a third of those crashes had people suffer from injuries, Favero said.
"The lanes are really, really narrow. The sidewalks aren’t even continuous all the way through and cars are speeding," said Favero. "It’s lined by houses on both sides, direct connections into the neighborhoods. This isn’t an area where you want people flying down in their cars."
FDOT is proposing to repurpose a two-mile stretch of the road, focusing between Saturn Avenue to Myrtle Avenue, according to Forward Pinellas.
"Out here, it would go from a four-lane undivided to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and the lanes will be wider than they are right now," Favero said.
There would also be wider sidewalks, bike lanes and better signal timing to keep the same amount of traffic moving. But not everyone is on board with losing traffic lanes.
"Some of the pushback that we’re getting is from people who are concerned about the loss of lanes going into downtown Clearwater with the Imagine Clearwater project and the redevelopment in the downtown area," said Favero. "I think anytime we can do a project that decreases crashes and makes it safer for people who are driving, walking and biking, it’s going to be a win."
Now, the state is waiting on the city of Clearwater to send a letter of support for the project, and neighbors hope city council says yes.
"It’s just so hard to understand why there would be so many accidents if people just drove down the road," said Fisher.
FDOT’s design would not change the speed limits on the road nor would work go into neighbor’s yards, Forward Pinellas said. The city of clearwater is expected to discuss the letter of support on April 4.