click image to view larger version
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), District Seven, conducted a corridor planning study along SR 693 (Pasadena Avenue) from Shore Drive South to 66th Street in Pinellas County – a distance of approximately 1.659 miles. SR 693 (Pasadena Avenue) is a north-south roadway that serves as a major commercial and commuter highway that traverses through the City of South Pasadena and City of Saint Petersburg. The corridor itself is an evacuation route and viewed as a gateway from the central business district and outlying areas of the City of St. Petersburg to the northern end of the St. Pete Beach communities.
The SR 693 (Pasadena Avenue) Corridor Study used FDOT’s Complete Streets policy to showcase how Complete Streets approaches can shape a corridor. The study, which began in January 2017, included technical work and data analysis, along with various opportunities for the public to be involved in discussing a vision for SR 693 (Pasadena Avenue) that makes it accessible for all users.
Study Purpose and Need
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to work with the community, stakeholders and a Project Advisory Group (PAG) to develop a vision and to identify a series of goals and objectives to enhance and improve the corridor. The following objectives were addressed during the course of the project:
- Enhance multi-modal mobility and connectivity along the corridor; and
- Develop short and long term strategies to address corridor needs.
This included improving capacity issues, traffic operations, safety, access and egress, traffic signal timing, intersection lighting, freight movements, transit operations, as well as bicycle and pedestrian movements.
Need: The Forward Pinellas 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) classifies SR 693 (Pasadena Avenue) as a Constrained Roadway. By definition, constrained roads are those that cannot be expanded as necessary to alleviate congestion due to either physical or policy limitation, environmental concerns or other factors. Given the number of major thoroughfares throughout Pinellas County that are constrained such as SR 693 (Pasadena Avenue), an emphasis must be made on making roadways more efficient for all road users.