By Vincent F. Safuto staff writer
November 18, 2002
Headline in the Vero Beach Press Journal, Jan. 1, 2050: Where have all the flowers gone?
Subhead: Last green spot in Florida paved over and striped.
Do you think Palm Beach County, Broward or Miami-Dade are bad places to drive? Are you about to give up on Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties' roads?
Try the roads in the Tampa Bay area.
A recent two-day trip to the west side of the state showed the consequences of wild and unrestrained growth, seemingly in every direction at once. If you find State Road 60 in our fair city to be a mess of shopping plazas and parking lots and want to get away, I suggest you take it west about 180 miles, then hang a right on U.S. 19, if you dare.
"Nineteen," as it's called, is like the Indianapolis racetrack, except for its lack of curves and the presence of traffic lights. But it does have traffic. Lots of traffic.
It's almost like a Disney ride, with thrills, chills and spills as you try to avoid becoming another traffic statistic. Definitely an "E" ticket.
Finding your destination on U.S. 19 consists of keeping an eye on the other vehicles, from motorbikes to SUVs to 18-wheelers, and darting glances to the right or left when no one's in front of you.
Not in the correct lane to make that turn? To avoid a multicar pile-up, keep going to the next intersection, start edging over to the turn lane and make a U-turn, when the light eventually changes.
Even for a younger person, the traffic and the confusing array of roads and bridges can make driving from place to place a terrifying, hair-raising, name-your-beneficiary experience. Getting to your destination with only minor emotional damage is almost a victory.
Even more fun is the act of merging. If you plan on testing your car against U.S. 19, you'd better have one that can hit 50 mph in less than seven seconds or you'll spend the rest of your life waiting for a gap in traffic.
Whoever planned or failed to plan the mess in the west should be punished severely. It's growth designed to make travel an unforgettable experience if you make it.
I expect that one day, the entire Tampa Bay area will be paved over, and the green spaces will be fond memories.
Lest you think that the benefit of all that sprawl is low unemployment, forget it. Tech companies and other employers in the Tampa Bay area have caught layoff fever, too, and unemployment is high.
All that concrete hasn't created good jobs at good wages, unless you're in the road-construction business.
For all the roads they've got, they're building more, and widening some. Those ubiquitous road barricades have relatives on the other coast, so there's just no escape from them.
Some economic growth is good, and maybe that will result in the need for a few more miles of roads in Indian River County. But planners here should look at the Tampa Bay area as an object lesson in how not to have growth.
Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at (Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com).
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