When merging traffic meets a crosswalk, the result can be dangerous.
Bay News 9 Real-Time Traffic expert Chuck Henson was asked to look at the intersection of 6th Street South at 6th Avenue South in St. Petersburg. It's in the middle of the hospital complexes for All Children's Hospital and Bayfront Medical Center.
- Pedestrians, drivers concerned about St. Pete intersection
- Location is in the middle of hospital complexes
- Have a Traffic Inbox story for Chuck? Click here
Viewer Laura Vanderipe drives it every day and said changes in the way traffic moves south past the intersection have created a dangerous situation.
"This intersection was much safer when the left-hand lane was turn-only and the right lane was the only straight-through lane," she said.
The road narrows from two lanes to one, and it's the left lane that continues forward. The right lane is marked with arrows and signs asking drivers to merge.
But according to Vanderipe, that's not what happens. Driveres often race past in the right lane and make a last-minute move to shift left, she said.
There's another danger — to pedestrians.
The merge of lanes happens at the spot where dozens of hospital employees and patients cross the street. And now that the right lane is a merge lane, many drivers stop in it before the merge, according to Jorge Gimenez.
"Basically, when people are trying to cross the street, we notice that sometimes there's a car stopped here for deliveries or something like that," Gimenez said. "And we're trying to cross the street. We notice that there's no cars coming, so we start inching out."
The blind spot created by delivery trucks or cars stopped in the merge lane can put pedestrians in danger.
"But then we see a car coming from behind the car that's stopped or a delivery truck, and all of a sudden, we'll see cars amazed that we're crossing the street," Gimenez said.
Henson reached out to the city to see whether this section of road could be studied. The city is going to have a look at it this week.