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New east-west link to open in 2 weeks
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN SEMINOLE -- Just two more weeks. The county says that's when the new road linking Bryan Dairy Road and 118th Avenue N will open, providing motorists a straight shot across the center of the Pinellas peninsula. Jim Collins, a senior engineer with the county's Transportation Engineering Division, says the 2-mile road is almost done. The only job left is the installation of light poles, Collins said. Once it's open, the 6-lane road will give commuters another route between the Intracoastal Waterway and Interstate 275, taking pressure off busy Ulmerton Road and Park Boulevard. Bryan Dairy now ends at 66th Street. The east-west route, called County Road 296, connects 102nd Avenue N, Bryan Dairy Road and 118th Avenue N, giving residents of Seminole, Pinellas Park, Largo and other communities a direct route to U.S. 19 and Interstate 275, the county's major north-south routes. One interstate ramp -- the one that funnels traffic from eastbound 118th Avenue to southbound I-275 -- is open. The ramps that move traffic from eastbound 118th Avenue to northbound I-275 and from southbound I-275 on to westbound 118th Avenue are scheduled to open the middle to later part of next year. Until then, motorists can take 28th Street N to Roosevelt Boulevard to enter or leave the interstate. The ramp to bring motorists from northbound I-275 onto westbound 118th Avenue won't open for several years. The county project extending Bryan Dairy Road from 66th Street to U.S. 19, which included building an overpass over 66th Street and replacing the pedestrian bridge at 62nd Street, started about two years ago. The $27.8-million project also involved moving a section of Cross Bayou Canal.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
