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Channelside residents petition City of Tampa for a four-way stop at 12th Street and Whiting Street

Neighbors say the intersection is very dangerous
Posted at 6:39 PM, Mar 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-21 02:22:05-04

Neighbors living in Channelside say the intersection of 12th and Whiting is no longer safe after a series of close calls with cars.

"During the busy times, it's very scary," said Jenna Kaczmarkski, who's lived in Channelside for almost 10 years.

Drivers heading down Whiting have a stop sign but residents say drivers heading down 12th street speed through.

"You can't just assume that you'll see a car that's close because they drive fast very often," Jenna said. "They speed."

Residents also say the stop signs on Whiting are located several feet back from the actual intersection, making cars creep right up to see past parked cars to see if traffic is coming.

"People are operating on this road as if they can just go as fast as they can through it," said Brad Kaczmarkski. "They don't have to stop. But as you can see, the last two cars just rolled right through that. So I mean they're just using this as a bump and go. But then this road is a complete full speed travel through."

Workers at the nearby Victory Coffee say they've also seen close calls.

"He was just walking in the road and the cab just totally yield or stop or do anything. He pretty much just plowed right through," said Alex Gianetti, a worker.

Neighbors tell ABC Action News they've asked the City of Tampa to consider making this intersection a four-way stop more than a year ago.

ABC Action News went to Tampa transportation leaders to find out the results of any traffic study that may have been done.

The city did conduct a traffic study, called a Multi-Way Stop Condition Warrant Study, in April of 2016, according to Jean W. Duncan, P.E., Director Transportation and Stormwater Services.

At that time, the intersection of 12th St. and Whiting did not meet the warrants that we require to install 4-way stop signs, Duncan said.  Some of those warrants include volume of traffic, number of crashes, pedestrian volumes, and traffic speeds.

Since there has been a lot of development in this area, and some other changing traffic patterns, the City of Tampa is going to conduct another Warrant Study, the city said. 

They are going to look at this intersection, along with three others that make up a square block area in this neighborhood. Those other intersections are 12th St. and Washington, 11th Street and Whiting, and 11th Street and Washington, Duncan said.

Duncan said they would potentially install 4-way stop signs at all of these intersections. 

The City of Tampa said they will put a rush on this study and can expect to have results back in about four weeks. They believe there is a high likelihood that their results will support the four-way stop condition, but they will follow our standard protocol, and get data collection and analysis underway now, Duncan said.

Duncan told ABC Action News they will inform the neighborhood representatives and the Tampa Police Department of any changes to the traffic pattern that they impose. 

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