With no end in sight for the Memorial Causeway Bridge, officials are looking for ways to ease the pain of Coachman Park concert traffic.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published June 27, 2004
CLEARWATER - Assuming the worst, it could take two more years to finish the new Memorial Causeway bridge.
That means two more summers and two more spring breaks with the main route to the beach snarling straight down Cleveland Street, hopelessly clogging the downtown.
To ease the inevitable traffic headaches, city officials are looking at the Coachman Park concert schedule to find ways around closing Drew Street so often.
Because the band shell at the base of the park has no back of the house to accommodate performers before shows, trailers are typically set up nearby on Drew. But with the road closures come huge backups on Cleveland, which drops to just one westbound lane to the beach at the Harborview Center.
Keeping at least one beach-bound lane open on Drew is a must, City Councilman Hoyt Hamilton said Monday. He has pushed city staff to find ways to count the time the street is closed in hours, instead of days.
"Close it during the performance, absolutely," he said. "But close it hours before and open it hours after."
People will understand downsized amenities, he said. And if concert promoters aren't willing to compromise, let them find a new venue, Hamilton added.
"I wouldn't be unwilling to walk away from a couple deals," Hamilton said.
City Manager Bill Horne said the changes could affect the annual WiLDSplash and Next Big Thing concerts, which typically draw thousands.
"They could be at risk because of the requirement to change the concert ground set-up," Horne said. "We're going to talk to all of our partners for next year and see if they're willing to modify the site."
Paul Bertels, Clearwater's traffic operations manager, said no other new changes are planned. Green light time already has been increased as much as possible on all the major streets downtown, he said.
"We've got it maximized about as good as it's going to get," Bertels said. "We'll be handling it the same way."
Originally the new bridge, a $69.3-million state project to link downtown to the beach, was planned to open in December 2003. But a string of construction problems, including four cracked columns the state has ordered replaced, derailed the schedule. Last week, contractor PCL Civil Constructors said it could take up to two years and $25-million to tear down and rebuild the columns.
The contractor has proposed another less drastic fix and is waiting for a decision from the state Department of Transportation.
