The Palm Avenue Pedestrian Safety Improvements arose as a result of a road safety audit performed due to Hillsborough Community College [HCC] Ybor Campus students and facility expressing concerns for pedestrian safety while crossing Palm Ave between buildings on their expanding campus along Palm Ave between Nuccio Pkwy and 17th St and due to residents of the Quarter expressing pedestrian safety concerns while crossing Palm Ave between 17th St and 20th St to patron restaurants and bars or attend functions in the Centro Ybor area located just south.
The city assembled a cross functional Road Safety Audit (RSA) team which included members from HCC Ybor staff, City of Tampa staff from Transportation, Parks and Recreation, Tampa Police Departments, Ybor City Development Corporation, Tampa City Council, FDOT Safety Ambassadors and one of our engineering consultant teams. The RSA is available at the bottom of this page.
The city then proceeded to implement the improvements proposed in the RSA. The constructed improvements include;
- upgrading all crosswalks to special emphasis crosswalks
- reconstructing ramps to ADA accessible ramps
- reconfiguring existing medians to remove pedestrian conflicts and to increase the size of the pedestrian refuges
- installing median fencing to channelize pedestrians into the mid-block crosswalks
- installing two (2) rectangular rapid flashing beacon assemblies at the mid-block crosswalks.
Information about RRFB's from the Federal Highway Administration