TAMPA, Fla. — For some South Tampa residents, it seems new median and landscape work was just finished. It's now being ripped out again — and residents are asking why?
Donald Minton was surprised to see the construction crews show up near his home on South Dale Mabry Highway because it seemed to him that they had just been there.
"Wasn't but two or three years ago they spent a lot of time and money tearing the street up, putting in palm trees and shrubbery and irrigation systems....pretty much to beautify Dale Mabry. That was part of our local tax thing was to beautify the city," Minton explained.
Now those trees are gone, and in their place are lots of orange barriers along Dale Mabry Highway, south of Gandy Boulevard.
Until now, neighborhood residents would make a left out of their streets across the lanes of Dale Mabry to the median. Now, "so you can't make a left turn. You gotta go right and then I guess do a U-turn or find some back streets," Minton said.
While Minton has his suspicions as to why this is happening, he said he hasn't gotten any information from the state.
"I can't find out from anybody why they're doing this. I speculate it's for safety issues but it's funny that nobody from the City or the State have informed any of us that live here, why they're doing this."
Traffic Expert Chuck Henson found out that the project is all about safety.
From 2010 to 2013, 24 intersections were studied along Dale Mabry Highway in South Tampa. There had been 127 car crashes with 86 resulting in injury or fatality.
The decision was made to close six of them and convert 11 others to a directional median opening or extended left turn lane.
Chuck Henson has done stories in the past about the dangers of left turns. As the city's streets become larger and more congested, crossing multiple lanes to a median, then into the flow of traffic, is not the safest way to go. The Federal Highway Administration says making a U-turn at a median opening is 25 percent safer than a direct left turn from a side street.