HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Nearly a month after a car slammed into a well-known Tampa restaurant, FDOT revealed the upcoming changes on that stretch of road during a city council meeting.
Council Member Luis Viera invited Mel Lohn to speak at the meeting to drive home his point about vehicles exceeding the 45 mph speed limit on Busch Boulevard.
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"We've watched Busch Boulevard become an intensely dangerous street," Lohn said.
A car went through Lohn's iconic hot dog restaurant in late October. The incident happened several weeks before FDOT put a project to bid that would bring four crosswalks to the area and encourage drivers to slow down.
"I'm the perpetual optimist. I think it's going to happen, maybe," Lohn said.
FDOT said construction should start in March, and a few months after they are done, they'll do a study to see if the crosswalks made a difference.
"If the data really supports us to reduce the speed, we will do it immediately," said Peter Hsu, a district safety engineer with FDOT.
But, for now, council member Viera said it's a very dangerous road.
"The sense of urgency has always gotta be there. This has always gotta be on the front burner. Very, very hot, boiling hot, because lives are at stake," Viera said.
FDOT expected their corridor study on the area to come out sometime in 2020.
