DOT Approves Study For 7-County Beltway

[Jasonhouse]

Ummm, yeah....




DOT Approves Study For 7-County Beltway

By JULIA FERRANTE jferrante@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 14, 2005


The state Department of Transportation is considering creating a major north-south beltway to alleviate traffic on Interstate 75 and connect several counties in the Tampa Bay area.

In the largest study approved since the 1997 Tampa Interstate Study, which outlined improvements for interstates 75 and 275 in downtown Tampa, the DOT will develop alternative routes through seven counties for a highway that could begin as far north as Citrus County and extend to Sarasota and Manatee counties, Project Manager Ming Gao said. The bypass also could extend as far east as Polk County but likely would not include Pinellas County.

The DOT has set aside $500,000 for the planning study, and a contract is expected to be signed next month, Gao said. The state, however, may spend as much as $1.5 million for a more detailed analysis if the road proves viable. The study also could be halted if environmental concerns or urban areas prove to be obstacles.

The idea of a multicounty beltway to alleviate traffic spurred by growth along the I- 75 corridor has been suggested for years, but recent requests from Florida Senate President Tom Lee, state Sen. Jim Sebesta of St. Petersburg, the Tampa Bay Partnership and others prompted the state to proceed with the study, Gao said.

``There has been an explosion of traffic on I-75 from the north. If you can offer people an alternative, it will alleviate traffic,'' Gao said. ``We look at it in terms of planned growth in the future and traffic 20 years down the road.''

Gao noted that no route has been determined, and the study covers a wide area.

``We are going to look at every possible scenario,'' he said.

Doug Uden, director of the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization, said regional MPO directors support the idea of a beltway. Pasco County is among the top 100 fastest-growing counties in the United States, according to the U.S. Census.

``I think we should look at it if we keep on growing this way,'' Uden said. ``We need new roads.''

Regional MPO directors have indicated they would like the route to start in either Citrus, Pasco or Hernando, continue to Hillsborough or Polk and end at Sarasota or Manatee counties, Uden said. He noted, however, that conceptual maps are just that.

``It could be anything or go anywhere,'' he said. ``The only place we are not really looking at is in Pinellas.''

In Pasco, the beltway could cross U.S. 19 and the Suncoast Parkway or connect with the proposed Ridge Road Extension, an east-west road to serve as a hurricane evacuation route, Uden said, or it could skip those roads altogether.

A large well field east of U.S. 41 and the Green Swamp, which straddles Pasco and Polk counties and encompasses a portion of the regional water supply, also could prove a major stumbling block for a bypass.

Joanne Hurley, spokeswoman for Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, a division of the DOT that oversees state toll roads, also stressed that the study is preliminary.

``Because there is so much need for transportation projects and not enough money, we get a lot of requests to look at road projects,'' Hurley said. ``We are in the beginning stages of conducting a planning study. We just now said we will look at it. This is like designing your greenhouse on a napkin.''

[Jahi98]

I-75 will have to be widened regardless of them building this thing. Pasco is on fire and south Hillsborough is heating up. If development continues in the same pattern, I-75 will need more capacity to handle the local traffic.

[Aessotariq]

Yikes! I-475?

I think going up to Citrus County is overkill... too far north... I would think no farther than central Pasco or Brooksville would be reasonable.

[Renkinjutsushi]

I think it is a bit overkill to extend it up to Citrus county, they should put one at northern Pinellas because we don't have I-275 and the traffic on US 19 and McMullen Booth Road is getting worse.

[Aessotariq]

Originally Posted by Renkinjutsushi

I think it is a bit overkill to extend it up to Citrus county, they should put one at northern Pinellas because we don't have I-275 and the traffic on US 19 and McMullen Booth Road is getting worse.

I thought they were going to make US 19 in northern Pinellas entirely limited access with frontage roads up to the Pasco County line. Some maps I've seen actually show this beyond the actual portions that were converted to limited access.

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

Down in Manatee and Sarasota counties, building another highway east of I-75 would be a huge mistake IMO. Instead, they should turn US19/301 into a limited access highway from I-275, all the way down to near DT Sarasota, before turning east and southeast to hook back up with I-75 somewhere south of Fruitville Rd. Hell make it a tollroad. Believe me that thing would be packed... And not only would it help I-75, but it would also help US41, and have the added benefit of encouraging growth in, not out.

A Manasota Parkway? I like this idea, and it would actually go somewhere useful to the population center...

[Jasonhouse]

Down in Manatee and Sarasota counties, building another highway east of I-75 would be a huge mistake IMO. Instead, they should turn US19/301 into a limited access highway from I-275, all the way down to near DT Sarasota, before turning east and southeast to hook back up with I-75 somewhere well south of Fruitville Rd. Believe me that thing would be packed... And not only would it help I-75, but it would also help US41 and the E-W feeders, and have the added benefit of encouraging growth in, not out.

I don't see why we need to encourage more sprawl by building a ring around east Tampa anyways. If they want to build roads, then focus on in-town stuff for a while, before building new feeder highways which exacerbate the in-town traffic even more.

[John F]

THis is as big a joke as them talking about widening Bruce B. Downs....

Tivo --- the County Commissioners want you to believe that and talk about 19 as beign a limited access highway in the future -- but minor roads still intersect with 19 through mid to north pinellas and are allowed standard access to the highway while also the commercial spots tend to have tons of access points along the road and not through frontage.

This is why I personally get pissed off looking at Mass Transit plans in the area. In Pinellas' "plan" for a monorail, it stops at Enterprise Road while it's the North County people who have to do most of the heavy commuting. (it's also why I get sick of seeing Tampa/Pinellas connectiosn through south-county with no top-of-the-bay connection. But that's another story).

[Jasonhouse]

Top of the bay doesn't have enough density to justify the cost. Also, the commute pattern up there is ambiguous. It's not like everyone who lives there works in Westshore. Most probably work in Oldsmar and mid Pinellas.

This is why living in the sticks sucks bro.

[Jahi98]

I think the amount of sprawl encouraged by this thing would depend on the routing. If it broke of from I-75 around Port Charlotte to the south, run north along the county lines, and reconnect with I-75 around the SR50/Brooksville exit, it might really behave as a true bypass road for being too far inland. And, ofcourse, it would most likely be a toll road.

As for north Pinellas, US 19 is slowly coming together in Clearwater with Drew Street, and then Coachman and Sunset. It will probably be another 10 years or so before we start to see any noticeable signs of that corridor being close to complete. I just wonder why they aren't coming at it from both ends. Since the road could be fairly easily converted through Tarpon Springs and north Palm Harbor, why not get it going there as well? I guess there's only so much money to go around.

While we're speaking of roads, will they ever connect the Veteran's Expressway with I-275 and I-75, completing the circle around Tampa? The New Tampa residents could then have a stoplight-free route to Westshore and the airport without taking I-275.

[sarasotan]

This road will probably be built and be something like the turnpike is in S. Florida. Since we live in a mass-transit hating state (at least at this time), then it will be essential to have both an alternate and a very capacious I-75. Sarasota is expected to be at 1 million people by 2020, and Manatee is developing at a phenomenal level with plans for ranch houses to basically cover the county much as they do Pinellas. Tampa Bay is going to be as populous as Miami is now in only a decade or so, and probably will get to be as populous as Houston area before 2050, so I think there will be a lot more new roads than just this one. Probably an alternate to I-4, too. And a state legislator told me at a party that there are long term plans being discussed for a cross state toll road from Manatee Co./Hillsborough Line area to I-95 (Just north of Palm Beach). People always thought the West Coast was a nothing, but I think that mentality is dead. Its only a matter of years before Tampa is "world-class," its just unfortunate that outside of the urban cores in Tampa, St. Pete, Orlando and Sarasota it will be a sprawling South California-style mess.

[Jasonhouse]

^I don't know if the area is going to go that crazy. Job growth has certainly slowed down bigtime lately, with little impetus to get it going again.

I agree Sarasota is definitely growing, but the Tampa metro not as much so.

[MisterFreddy]

^

Jasonhouse is right on about another highway east of I-75 in Sarasota & Manatee counties. The problem is with I-75 itself. I live in Venice, FL, which is about 20 miles south of Sarasota, and I-75 narrows to four lanes (going both ways) just south of SR681, and this area is seriously prone to accidents and very high traffic. Proposing a spur highway route in between US301 and I-75 through Sarasota and Bradenton would be helpful in alleviating the traffic in the area, especially with siphoning off the traffic off I-75. The problem with Venice & North Port (which are both in Sarasota County) is that there are no North/South routes except US41 and I-75. Three recent car accidents in the past week are testimony to the fact that there needs to be more routes within southern Sarasota County from North Port to Venice, with crossings on the Myakka River. Widening I-75 to at least three lanes each way from SR681 through Charlotte County would help some, but a lot more needs to be done to avoid the constant bumper-to-bumper mess in the SRQ area.

[smiley]

Jasonhouse - that's really not true, except for in maybe some specialized cases.

As for highways in Saasota - good luck getting anything north/south west of 75. My opinion is that they should have made University Parkway as spur going to 41 because the east west roads getting to 75 are going to become too clogged - but why would they have foresight?

They clearly need a road - probably in south Pasco - going from 19 across the Suncoast/Veterans to 75. It is planned, but I don't know if it will ever get built.

[Jasonhouse]

If they build another N-S highway west of I-75, then the E-W roads benefit as well, because now folks won't be on them for so far (trying to get out to I-75), allowing traffic to build up. (and this is so obvious, especially at the rushes)

Now, we all know full well that they won't build the road I'm suggesting, but they sure as hell should. Building east of I-75 makes it pointedly clear that road building isn't about facilitating traffic flow, it's to facilitate sprawl.

[Agent Orange]

A new tollway east of 75? That has to be a joke. The only areas that new new expressways are Sarasota-Manatee, as Jasonhouse mentioned, and well, a bunch of places in Pinellas, particularly north Pinellas. What they really need to do is take this money and spend it on efficient mass transit and road improvements in already developed areas, but that's asking for a miracle.

[Renkinjutsushi]

^ Umm it looks like the areas they will cover are most in not that developed areas..

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

A new tollway east of 75? That has to be a joke. The only areas that new new expressways are Sarasota-Manatee, as Jasonhouse mentioned, and well, a bunch of places in Pinellas, particularly north Pinellas. What they really need to do is take this money and spend it on efficient mass transit and road improvements in already developed areas, but that's asking for a miracle.

Yeah, I know that won't happen..."when it snows in Florida." So our best hopes is a limited access US 19 since the traffic lights make it worse.

[jvance75]

i think it has to do with the fact that we have added more people in the past 4 years than in the last decade(90-00).

[Jasonhouse]

Now remember, I'm in La-La Land, so anything can get done. There are no NIMBYs!


For the rest of the region, I'm quite certain that I would focus on three roads...

1) Getting US19 turned into a completely limited access road from 118th St in mid-Pinellas, all the way up to Holiday in Pasco (later extend to SR52, and then to Hernando county line)...(remember, it's already in the works that US19 will link to I-275 via 118th Ave Connector)...

2) Build a shorter version of the Bi-County Expressway in Pasco asap. Just make it go from I-75 near Wesley Chapel, to US19 near Hudson...(later extend to Zephyrhills)...these two combined would greatly streamline traffic for N Pinellas as well as south Pasco. The biggest impact would be that drivers coming/going north (ALOT of traffic) could now bypass Tampa all together to get anywhere in Pinellas... Why these two projects weren't done at least 15 years ago is beyond me.

3)Extend the Crosstown down SR60 all the way out to the Redman Pkwy, where it will then turn NE to pass by the Lakeland airport, and link with SR570...Then from SR60, run a bypass following Redman Pkwy/CR39 south to Boyette, where it would turn SW, to link up with I-75 near Big bend Rd... this would give Tampa/St Pete bound drivers an I-4 bypass from Polk City, all the way to I-75, DT Tampa and beyond. Plus, it would greatly improve through traffic on SR60, which is an increasingly used link with the se part of the state. Additionally, it would serve to allow drivers going to/from SW Florida to bypass I-4/I-75 congestion.


Oh, and I would without question make all limited access portions toll roads. That wouldn't even be up for discussion.

[jvance75]

this could be the route FDOT is looking at....they are not sure if it will be interstate or tolled...


considering how the western(veterans), southern(crosstown) and the northern(new tampa) beltway are all toll...this one probably will be too.

[Lakelander]

^who has, I didn't realize the area was growing that fast. Polk appears to be at the same pace as it was in the late 1990's. Well it looks like the new loop road will provide quick access to the proposed mega airport on the Polk/Hardee County border.