South Tampa residents push back on El Prado Boulevard traffic safety changes

Some neighbors worry about road safety plan

The city of Tampa is moving forward with safety changes to El Prado Boulevard in South Tampa. Some residents oppose the project, arguing it could worsen traffic and create safety concerns, while a petition against the plan has gathered more than 800 signatures. FOX 13's Danielle Zulkosky reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - The city of Tampa is moving forward with safety changes to El Prado Boulevard in South Tampa.

"We're going to be installing some crosswalks with rectangular rapid flashing beacons. We're going be building sidewalks where there are no sidewalks. There's literally no place for someone to walk," Brandon Campbell, the Tampa mobility director. "Then we're also going to be narrowing the lanes, reducing the number of lanes so that we slow traffic down on this residential street."

There has been opposition from some in the area, including Matt Marsden who lives in the neighborhood.

The other side:

"The people that live and work in South Tampa need to be able to commute and go places and work and do things," Marsden said.

One resident started this petition, urging the city to reconsider. As of Friday night, it had 818 signatures. 

A major sticking point is concern that this will make the road more dangerous.

A city representative said Vision Zero initiatives have mostly reduced crashes and fatalities.

What they're saying:

"We are implementing proven safety countermeasures that are going to make this a safer corridor," Campbell said.

This project is part of the city’s Complete Streets initiative and includes reducing driving lanes from four to two and adding bike lanes instead.

Marsden is against the plan and said the bike lanes are a waste.

"We have a bike lane on Euclid [Avenue] now. It's never used. There are never any bikes on it," Marsden said. "Transit on a bike in Florida is not really that practical with the rain, the weather and humidity. It's not something that we see used."

By the numbers:

The city said as it stands the road has four lanes, and that is enough for 20,000 cars a day. But according to traffic data, it only sees 3,000 to 8,000 cars on this stretch of road.

"To try to continue to cram bikes and cars on every road that we have around here, it's just, it isn't safe for bikes, and it slows down cars, and it's kind of like the worst of both worlds," Marsden said.

Dig deeper:

Those who signed the petition said the city is using old traffic data. The city refuted that claim.

"We're going to record data at different points in time," Campbell said. "There is data from 2009, and there's data from 2018. We have data from 2024 as well. Those counts are virtually unchanged."

These changes are already approved by the city and city council.

What's next:

Campbell said construction will start in a month.

What you can do:

The city is holding an Open House Public Meeting to take questions on Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Jan Platt Library.