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County seeks faster upgrades to SR 56/I-75 interchange

 
To alleviate traffic, the Florida Department of Transportation recently added construction of a so-called divergent diamond interchange at the I-75/SR 56 ramps to its tentative five-year work plan, with construction scheduled to begin in 2020. The state previously said the upgrade likely wouldn’t happen until 2024.
To alleviate traffic, the Florida Department of Transportation recently added construction of a so-called divergent diamond interchange at the I-75/SR 56 ramps to its tentative five-year work plan, with construction scheduled to begin in 2020. The state previously said the upgrade likely wouldn’t happen until 2024.
Published Nov. 19, 2015

Help for the congested Interstate 75 interchange at State Road 56 is coming sooner than originally projected, but not soon enough for Pasco County officials and the people making the drive.

The Florida Department of Transportation recently added construction of a so-called divergent diamond interchange at the I-75/SR 56 ramps to its tentative five-year work plan, with construction scheduled to begin in 2020. The state previously said the upgrade likely wouldn't happen until 2024.

The acceleration did little to placate Pasco commissioners during a Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting last week in Dade City.

"Our constituents in that area are not used to that traffic,'' Commissioner Mike Moore said. "Waiting to 2020 is going to be a disaster. It needs to happen sooner rather than later.''

The state opened SR 56 and the I-75 interchange more than a dozen years ago and later modified the ramps to make travel safer at the I-75 apex with Interstate 275, just south of the interchange. Still, daily eastbound traffic on SR 56, either entering the interstate or trying to cross over the highway, often sits through a nearly mile-long backup. The eastbound stretch of SR 56 approaching the interstate is the busiest road in the county east of U.S. 19, with state traffic counts showing 57,500 vehicles passing through daily.

The existing commuter congestion combined with the recent opening of the Tampa Premium Outlets mall and other ongoing development has put an added focus on traffic management in the vicinity. Changing signal timing, in conjunction with the mall opening, has eased some of the east-west delays, but northbound motorists routinely hit afternoon bottlenecks as they try to exit I-75 at SR 56.

The heavy congestion has prompted some motorists to use alternative routes, including County Line Road, which also is subjected to heavy traffic during morning and afternoon commute times.

The state's answer is the divergent diamond interchange, which eliminates the need to wait on a green light for a left-hand turn for motorists entering I-75. Under this design, the east-west traffic pattern diverts vehicles to left lanes for a short distance, where they either enter the interstate or continue as through traffic by returning to lanes on the right-hand side of the road. The state currently is building its first divergent diamond interchange at I-75 and University Parkway in Sarasota. It is scheduled to open in 2017.

The DOT plans for the Pasco interchange call for nearly $3 million worth of design work in the coming year, with the $8.7 million construction project to begin in the 2019-20 fiscal year.

"It's four years too late,'' said Steve Domonkos of the Shops at Wiregrass and a member of a newly formed three-person transportation task force for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce. "We're not sure why the planning got so far behind and why this wasn't put in place to open in congruency with the outlets.''

Moore, meanwhile, said he is working with state legislators to try to bump up that time frame, and he apparently met a receptive audience.

Interstate "75 and (SR) 56 is a mess right now,'' said state Rep. Danny Burgess, R-San Antonio, whose district includes the interchange. "It's fantastic that we have the amazing amenities and the growth, but there is an immediate need there. It's not a future need, it needs to be addressed now.''

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Burgess, however, cautioned that the state needed to look at other options, not simply reallocate money from a project elsewhere.

"We don't want to do this as a detriment to any other project,'' he said.

Earlier this year, the state addressed a similar local request to expedite building the 7-mile extension of SR 56 as a four-lane highway to Zephyrhills by making its revolving loan program available to Pasco County and the city of Zephyrhills.

The DOT's tentative five-year plan becomes effective at the start of the next state fiscal year, July 1, 2016. Though the DOT included other changes to the plan — including a one-year delay for adding lanes on State Road 54 between Curley and Morris Bridge roads — the I-75/SR 56 interchange is getting the most attention.

"It's hurting businesses in general,'' said Domonkos. "As people get frustrated (with traffic delays), they'll find other places to shop, or they'll spend less time here, and that doesn't benefit any of us.''