Work to start on key U.S. 19 overpass

The busy and dangerous Drew Street intersection will become a six-lane bridge that will cost nearly $30-million and be done by fall 2005.

By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 10, 2002

CLEARWATER -- Just in time to greet early snowbirds and fall tourists, the state Department of Transportation will begin the reconstruction of U.S. 19 at Drew Street next Monday. The project will disrupt traffic in the area for the next three years.

The long-anticipated project at one of Pinellas County's most congested and dangerous intersections will turn that section of U.S. 19 into a six-lane bridge over Drew and will add frontage roads for access to businesses along U.S. 19.

The project, budgeted at nearly $30-million, is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2005.

The construction will start just north of the bridge complex that carries U.S. 19 over State Road 60, Gulf-To-Bay Boulevard in mid-county. The work will extend north to the CSX railroad crossing, a distance of 1.2 miles. As part of the project, the bridge over the tracks will be resurfaced.

Other roadway improvements will include 500 feet on Drew Street west of U.S. 19 and 1,200 feet on Drew east of U.S. 19.

According to Kris Carson, a spokeswoman for DOT, lane closures within 600 feet of the intersection of Drew and U.S. 19 will be confined to nighttime hours.

According to the schedule, closures as necessary will occur on northbound U.S. 19 between 9 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. Closures on southbound U.S. 19 will occur between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Closures of Drew will occur between 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. in both directions.

The construction likely will cause headaches not only for motorists who regularly use U.S. 19 but also for those who use McMullen-Booth Road, the other major north-south artery through mid-county. Drivers trying to avoid the U.S. 19 construction are expected to move over to McMullen-Booth, adding to heavy rush-hour traffic loads there and on the Bayside Bridge.

Construction also could slow motorists from Hillsborough County who use the Courtney Campbell Parkway and Gulf-To-Bay to reach U.S. 19 northbound.

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