B&N conducted a Project Development & Environment (PD&E) Corridor study along 1.7 miles of State Route (SR) 693 (Pasadena Avenue) in the Cities of South Pasadena and St. Petersburg. The study included extensive public involvement, engineering data collection and the development of multiple design alternatives.
The project’s robust Community Outreach plan began with the formation of a Project Advisory Group (PAG) consisting of residents, local officials, Forward Pinellas, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), and staff from the City of South Pasadena and City of St. Petersburg. The PAG, along with B&N, facilitated public visioning meetings that included the use of surveys, aerial display boards and a tutorial on the use of an online wiki mapping comment tool. The meetings resulted in the development of the project’s purpose and need and included short-term safety recommendations, mid-term mobility options and long-term innovative solutions.
Before completing preliminary engineering for the project, B&N obtained existing traffic counts along the entire corridor along with the development of a 2020, 2030 and 2040 traffic projection. Five-year crash data was analyzed, and severity and crash rate data allowed B&N to identify key safety “hot spots.” Other data collection efforts included the review of long-range transportation plans, land use plans and detailed field reviews.
Based on the results of the public involvement and data collection, the team analyzed multiple design alternatives for the short-, mid-, and long-term.
The short-term solutions included an in-depth safety evaluation of three road segments. B&N then provided design solutions for one of the segments where the corridor had a crash rate five times higher than the statewide average. The alternatives at this location included intersection improvements, access management changes and speed management strategies.
The mid-term strategies included a no-build alternative, road diet alternative and a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) alternative. These alternatives included full concept plan development, a full traffic operations analysis in the 2020, 2030 and 2040 design years, and construction cost estimating and review of environmental impacts.
The long-term strategies included a conceptual design and analysis for the intersection of Pasadena Avenue and Gulfport Boulevard along with a bridge realignment concept over Boca Ciega Bay.