Roads, Roads, Roads!!

If you live in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel there are several key roads that you have to take to get anywhere and everywhere. Fortunately some of these roads and intersections are going to be transformed.

Improvements to begin within the next month on key highways and one intersection in Wesley Chapel:

· S.R. 56 Extension: The extension of S.R. 56 to Meadow Pointe Blvd., is supposed to begin within the next month. This is required for the new Shops at Wiregrass mall at S.R. 56 & Bruce B. Downs (BBD). Eventually plans are to extend S.R. 56 all the way to Morris Bridge Road.
· Widening of Bruce B. Downs: The widening of BBD from County Line Road (CLR) to S.R. 54 is also supposed to begin. This widening has been delayed previously but should finally get underway soon with plans for 8 lanes south of S.R. 56 to CLR.
· Intersection at Bruce B. Downs & S.R. 56: Reported to become the second largest intersection in the nation, this major intersection will have triple left turn lanes in all directions and eventually will be 12 lanes at its widest.

Future New Tampa and Wesley Chapel road improvements in 2008:

· Widening of S.R. 54: Perhaps the most treacherous road in all of Pasco Co; the widening of this road from BBD to Curley Rd. was scheduled to start later this year. (Still in acquisition, and now won't begin until 2009)
· Southbound ramp from BBD to I-75: Work is already underway and when completed, we will no longer have to stop at a light when traveling south on BBD to access I-75 southbound.

Likely changes in traffic patterns:

· Once S.R. 56 is extended at least to Mansfield, expect less traffic on County Line Rd. in Meadow Pointe.
· Once S.R. 56 is extended to Meadow Pointe Blvd., I anticipate a lot of traffic diverting from S.R. 54 to S.R. 56 at Meadow Pointe Blvd. until the widening of S.R. 54 is complete.

The list of “Don’t hold your breath” road improvements for New Tampa & Wesley Chapel:

· The bottleneck on C.R. 54 at I-75 won’t be addressed anytime soon as it requires major overpass improvements.
· Widening of BBD south of County Line Road (Hillsborough County): Hillsborough County’s first leg of the planned widening of BBD is on the southern portion of this major New Tampa road and isn’t scheduled until 2009. Once the three large new Wesley Chapel malls open next year, expect major bottlenecks on New Tampa’s BBD in Hillsborough County.
· East-West Connector: This proposed toll road connecting BBD to I-275 was last reported to be in the planning/design stages, narrowing lane widths to reduce costs.
· Connection of New Tampa’s Kinnan Road in Hillsborough County to Mansfield Blvd in Pasco County: Pasco refuses this connection because Mansfield Boulevard is not engineered for this volume of traffic. Pasco wanted the connection at Meadow Pointe Blvd. Expect this “Mexican standoff” to continue; hence its nickname “the road to nowhere”.
· Widening of S.R. 54 east of Curley Road: No money!
· Rerouting/widening of Curley Road to connect to Meadow Pointe Blvd.: Re: The recent sale by Lennar of the Epperson Ranch will possibly cause additional delays.