News of the Nature Coast of Florida

Citrus County officials said Thursday that they will try a modification to the new median barrier recently installed on Croft Avenue at the State Road 44 intersection.

Left turns from the southbound lane of Croft onto Thomas at the south end of Croft had been prohibited by the new median.

They will be allowed again as the county observes how that configuration works. Other left turns against the traffic, however, will still be prohibited and signs will be erected to indicate that.

The median had been recommended in a preliminary draft of a state Road Safety Audit.

The busy intersection is often congested and becomes dangerous, as accident statistic show, when at such times vehicles try to make left turns across traffic into or out of three outlets right at the intersection. The service station, Thomas Street, and the shopping center parking lot beside the bank all enter Croft right at the intersection.

County engineers were told that the safety audit was going to recommend the median and they realized that they had an opportunity to solve the problem as suggested in the safety audit through the stimulus repaving program that by coincidence was being done on Croft. Otherwise, they realized when the audit was finished in a month or so, to comply with the safety recommendations the new asphalt would have to be torn up at considerable cost and redone. This way, it was done for about only $4,000 extra with the final striping of the repaving project.

The real solution to the problem, the engineers say, is to widen the road and redesign the whole approach to the intersection with turn lanes, but there is no money currently available for that.

The median installation caught some criticism in some Citrus County Chronicle interviews, and Deputy County Administrator Eber Brown subsequently talked to the owner of the strip center on the north side of Thomas and the manager of the Shell convenience store.

After discussing the issue with them, Brown said, the county decided to open a cut in the median and try allowing left turns from the southbound lane on Croft to Thomas. The situation will be monitored, as well as how semi-tractor trailer trucks making deliveries will be able to navigate with the new design.

While the median will be cut for southbound lefts onto Thomas, left turns coming out of the Shell parking lot onto Croft will be prohibited. Left turns from Thomas onto Croft will be prohibited and left turns onto Croft coming out of the parking lot next to the bank will also be prohibited.