FDOT outlines prioritized safety, pedestrian and median changes for State Road 580 corridor

State Road 580 should get a mix of near‑term safety fixes and long‑term reconstruction, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) staff told the Dunedin City Commission on Jan. 28.

FDOT project manager Jensen Hackett said the corridor study — covering State Road 580 from Alternate 19 to Tampa Road and up to the Pinellas‑Hillsborough county line — is in final draft and will be released in late spring or early summer. The report ranks a dozen or so short‑term improvements that would not require right‑of‑way acquisition and a set of longer‑term improvements that would.

The study prioritized lower‑cost items that produce safety and operational benefit, Hackett said. Consultant project manager Jeff Novotny and FDOT multimodal staff described short‑term proposals such as improved intersection signing and crosswalk upgrades, added turn‑lane length, and low‑cost mid‑block crossing and refuge island options. Longer‑term ideas include right‑of‑way‑dependent work such as adding an eastbound right‑turn lane onto a US 19 frontage road and larger intersection reconstructions at Keene and Belcher.

Commissioners and staff pressed FDOT on several recurring concerns: managing high access and turn conflict where two‑way left‑turn lanes ("suicide lanes") create safety problems; how medians or traffic separators would look and be maintained; effects on traffic flow; and coordination with transit and nearby local projects such as the Skinner Road improvements.

Novotny said public input from a September workshop (about 31 attendees) and the project advisory group influenced the ranking. Projects receiving the most public support included corridor‑wide traffic separators, an improvement at Countryside Boulevard, and a long‑term US 19/Countryside intersection project. Forward Pinellas (the MPO) and PSTA were part of the advisory group, Novotny said, and FDOT will coordinate with the MPO to pursue funding through the Transportation Improvement Program and the long‑range plan.

On multimodal and landscaping questions, FDOT staff said narrow medians along parts of 580 limit the potential for wide planted strips; many of the center treatments under consideration are concrete or modular traffic separators. The district bike‑ped coordinator said lane widths (roughly 11–12 feet in the corridor) sometimes can be reduced slightly during resurfacing projects to create room for bike infrastructure or landscaping if local governments agree to maintenance responsibilities.

Commissioner Rob and Commissioner Tom both raised pedestrian safety where people cross multiple vehicle lanes between signalized intersections; FDOT noted two candidate mid‑block crossing locations and said refuge islands and lane‑management changes could shorten crossing distances and provide safer pedestrian refuge. Commissioners also asked how the Skinner Road project’s design elements could be carried farther east; FDOT said Skinner can inform later phases but the corridor study envisions phased smaller investments tied to resurfacing and available funding rather than a single, massive reconstruction.

FDOT described the next steps as internal department review of the final draft, coordination with Forward Pinellas and PSTA on prioritization and funding, and working with local governments to identify projects the city wants the MPO to prioritize.

Why it matters: State Road 580 is one of the county’s main east‑west corridors. The study frames a staged approach intended to deliver visible safety improvements sooner while preserving a pathway for larger, costlier changes that require land acquisition and more extensive design work.