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Will Zephyrhills Be Next To Lose 1-Way Street?

Tribune photo by FRED BELLET

If Florida DOT has its way, a section of U.S. 301 on Gall Boulevard will become a one-way thoroughfare.

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: November 16, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - It's been 15 years since downtown's Broad Street became a one-way street, and some business owners say they've never recovered.

"It's been a nightmare," said Lisa Callea, owner of the Rising Sun Cafe, just off Broad Street.

Broad Street - much like Zephyrhills' Gall Boulevard - was the city's main commercial corridor. In 1993, the Florida Department of Transportation converted U.S. 41 into a pair of one-way streets with all of the northbound traffic on Broad and southbound traffic diverted onto Jefferson Street.

The plan is similar to one being proposed for Gall, also known at U.S. 301 in Zephyrhills, where Gall would handle the northbound traffic and all southbound traffic would shift over one block to Sixth Street.

City leaders in Zephyrhills don't want to see businesses on Gall suffer the same fate as Brooksville's Broad Street merchants. They say one-way streets are designed for travelers passing through town - not the people who live and shop there.

"The issue here was there were no turning lanes," said Brian Brijbag, who lives on Broad Street. "When someone wanted to turn, the traffic was backing up, and there was no way to widen the roads."

Brooksville's City Council approved the one-way streets in 1984, but council members and merchants objected to the project in 1993 after construction began.

Brijbag, who worked for Brooksville's redevelopment office, said the one-way streets solved the traffic-flow problem. The DOT buried the utility lines and installed decorative features, such as brick crosswalks and sidewalks, to make the area around the courthouse square more pedestrian-friendly.

Changes 'Made A Difference'

But the business district still suffered.

Broad Street merchants said their business went down anywhere from 35 percent to 50 percent in the first year. Established restaurants went out of business. One block lost virtually all its retail shops.

"It definitely made a difference," said Patricia Lambright, owner of Patricia's Boutique. "Some businesses have never recovered. Anytime you cut in half the number of people who drive past your store, you're going to lose business."

Lambright said she gets fewer walk-in customers, which forced her to improve her marketing strategy.

"I'm not a quitter," she said. "I'm a survivor. I am determined not to let it take me down."

Sally Petrie, president of the Brooksville Business Alliance, said that downtown Brooksville saw an increase in heavy truck traffic, even though U.S. 41 has a bypass around town. They also noticed an increase in accidents, she said.

Drivers find the one-way streets confusing, said Desnee Elgin, who owns Broad Street Cafe. "A group of us wish they would change it back."

Not All Businesses Upset

But that feeling isn't universal - especially among property owners on Jefferson Street. Peggie Bell's Main Street Eatery, at the corner of Main and Jefferson, has been around for 19 years.

"It affected me positively," she said. "My business benefited because before you had people driving through town and they never got off U.S. 41. Now they drive past my restaurant."

If the same pattern holds in Zephyrhills, property on Sixth Street would be primed for commercial development.

The Broken Mold home decorating business opened on Jefferson Street 15 years ago. Owner Laura Wever said the one-way street "didn't affect me one way or the other."

But she thinks the traffic patterns hurt the downtown business district as a whole. The DOT achieved its goal - to move vehicles through the city as quickly as possible. But that is counterproductive to business leaders who want a walkable downtown.

"Speed is a real killer for small business," Wever said.

But so is gridlock, and transportation officials say Zephyrhills would become a virtual parking lot without the one-way streets. The DOT produced a video to show residents what would happen to Gall Boulevard in 20 years without the one-way streets.

The $70 million plan calls for enhancements, such as bike lanes, landscaping, crosswalks and brick sidewalks, to make the corridor more attractive. Construction wouldn't start until 2015 at the earliest.

Bell said that in Brooksville, some people will never accept it.

"There are some business owners who want to go back to how it was before," she said. "I almost feel like it is the way it is now. Let's not flip it back."

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844. Keyword: DOT video, for details about the proposal in Zephyrhills.

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