Crews repurposing lanes of 34th Street in St. Pete, but resident has concerns

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Plans to repurpose lanes on 34st Street in St. Petersburg are moving foward.

But some residents are concerned about losing lanes of traffic.

The project — changing the outside lanes from 30th Ave S to 54th Ave in the Skyway Marina District — has been years in the making.

The lanes will be converted to bus lanes and cars making right turns. The idea is to help slow down traffic and make the area safer for pedestrians.

Sharon Calvert, who has lived in the area for years, is worried about losing lanes of traffic.

“Don’t take a functional road and make it dysfunctional,” Calvert said.

She is mostly concerned about the amount of growth around 34th Street that can add to the traffic on the road. 

“Building luxury apartments, huge parking garages. It’s just going to feed more traffic, and of course we have the tourists,” she said. “We have booming tourism right now.”

But officials with Forward Pinellas said that growth is accounted for in this project and that drivers should not see more traffic as a result.

“Because I-275 runs directly parallel, that roadway is very under capacity,” said Chelsea Favero, planning manager for Forward Pinellas. “That leads to a lot more vehicles that are speeding and traveling at unsafe speeds. So by repurposing, we believe we can still accommodate the growth in the corridor while also providing a safe environment for everyone.”

Calvert remains skeptical, however.

“There’s ways to calm the traffic without taking a lane away that we use every day,” she said.

The project has support from the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.

The work includes new sidewalks, crosswalks and paving. It is set to be done later this year.