SENDING A SIGNAL
Florida teen’s passion for safety prompts traffic improvements near middle school
I
t’s often said persistence pays off.
And that certainly was the case
for a Florida teenager who worked
tirelessly for nearly a year to persuade
Pasco County leaders to approve
traffic safety upgrades outside her
middle school at a recently redesigned
intersection
Thanks to Makayla Trowell’s
devotion, students, staff, bus drivers,
and residents who travel on the busy
roads outside Crews Lake Middle
School in Spring Hill now are safer.
2│ TRENDS
By Eric Widholm
Her efforts led to the installation of an
enforceable, flashing 15 mph speed
limit “School Zone” sign on busy
Shady Hills Road and a new signalized
intersection on Shady Hills Road and
Softwind Lane/Crela Lane.
The intersection project – designed
by Ayres Associates – was engineered
on a highly accelerated schedule so
construction could be completed
before the school year began. The
typical several-month design process
was compressed into about two
weeks. The project was one of the
quickest turnarounds ever for the
County’s Traffic Operations Division.
“It required teamwork on several
fronts with significant coordination,”
said Michael Bunk, Pasco County’s
traffic engineering supervisor. “The
end result was that a traffic signal got
installed in pretty much record time.
The schedule was quite fast. From the
time that a plan was submitted and a
review was done, and then sent back
with comments, it really was at some