Motorists blew out tires and cracked rims when dozens of potholes appeared in December after heavy rains.
By ED QUIOCO
Published May 10, 2003
PALM HARBOR - The state Department of Transportation will close a three-quarters of a mile stretch of Curlew Road for four days next week while crews resurface the pockmarked street.
The road will be closed from Belcher Road to County Road 1 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, DOT spokeswoman Kris Carson said. Residents of neighborhoods off that section of Curlew will be able to use the road, but other drivers are urged to use Tampa Road as a detour.
"What we are going to do is go in and mill up the roadway itself and put an overlay of asphalt in," Carson said.
The $68,000 project will be a temporary fix to the dozens of potholes caused by unseasonably heavy rains in December. The contractor, APAC Florida Inc., will do the work during the day to avoid disturbing residents at night.
"The milling machine is very noisy," Carson said. "We didn't want to do it at night with the residents there."
Crews will scrape off the old layer of asphalt and the bumpy patches on the potholes and add a new, even layer of asphalt, Carson said.
Bigger improvements also are on the way.
The state plans to widen Curlew from CR 1 to Fisher Road, just west of U.S. 19, from two to four lanes. The process of selecting a contractor for this $5.3-million project will begin inJanuary. Typically, construction starts three to four months after a project goes out to bid, Carson said.
DOT also will resurface Curlew from Alt. U.S. 19 to CR 1 at a cost of $1.3-million. That project goes to bid in January.
Both projects were moved a few months ahead of schedule after heavy rains seeped into cracks on the aging asphalt and caused 40 to 50 potholes to open. More than a dozen cars had to be towed or repaired after motorists blew out tires and cracked rims on the holes in December.
About 23,000 vehicles a day use the section of Curlew Road between CR 1 and Belcher, according to the Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The road repairs could not wait until the two bigger projects began, Carson said.
"Until those projects can start, we needed to go in and do something about the roadway right now," Carson said.
