CLEARWATER, Fla. — Residents in Clearwater are paying close attention to the next city council elections because it could determine the fate of a stalled project on changing the makeup of Drew Street.

What You Need To Know

  • A plan to change the street from four lanes to two, while adding a middle left turn lane, has seen delays after it was approved by Clearwater's city council last year

  • According to the Tampa Bay Times, half of the candidates running for city council this year oppose the idea

  • Clearwater's election is scheduled for March 19

Stepping outside her home in Clearwater, Peggy Page loves her neighborhood, but she rarely goes on walks unless someone is with her.

“Sometimes I'm like this going down the street,” Page said as she started walking sideways, “because I want to be alert.”

She bought her home in 1999, leased it for the first 15 years or so before moving in around 2015.

In the time she’s owned the property, she says she’s seen dozens of accidents outside her house on Drew Street.

“I really see very few people walking along here,” Page said. “And I don't blame them. When a bus comes, you can feel it.”

For years, it didn’t bother her.

“Before I just thought, this comes with living on Drew,” said Page. “But now I'm cautious walking. I'm cautious driving.”

She’s reminded why just a couple of blocks from her house. She says you don’t have to go too far to see signs memorializing someone who was killed along Drew Street.

“You're just right next to the curb and your tires are on that white line,” Page said.

That’s why she supports changes to the street that were laid out in plans approved by the Clearwater City Council in April 2023.

It involves converting this four-lane road into a two-lane street that has a middle-left turn lane. The approved changes would impact about two miles of Drew Street that stretch from Keane Road to Osceola Avenue.

Despite its initial approval, there have been governmental delays and requests for more analyses on traffic impacts.

Now, it’s become an issue that candidates for Clearwater City Council are running on.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, half of the candidates running for city council disagree with the original plan passed last year.

It’s a position Bud Elias, a long time Clearwater resident, agrees with.

“I think it's going to make it more dangerous for those people that are traversing the highway, going all the way downtown,” he said.

Elias doesn’t live on Drew Street but says he drives it weekly.

Getting rid of two lanes, to him, only adds more problems.

“If we have anything happening on the street that's going to impede the traffic going either way, that's going to simply make a backup,” Elias said.

While he understands safety is a concern, he thinks there must be a better solution.

“I don't see the plan of making a one way either way, reducing it from four to two is going to make a difference,” said Elias.

When you talk to folks like Page, though, some change is better than nothing.

According to Page, she wants to be able to walk along her street without constantly having to be on guard.

Clearwater’s election is scheduled for March 19.