Pasco officials say the highway extension should be open by now, and that the Army Corps of Engineers is to blame.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published May 14, 2004
DADE CITY - Pasco County is no closer to getting the last key permit for the Ridge Road extension than it was six months ago. And officials are getting tired of the delays.
Venting their frustration Thursday morning, county officials pinned the blame on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency reviewing the plans for the 8.5-mile extension. County Commissioner Steve Simon described the agency as so oblivious, "They don't even know what month it is sometimes."
Added Commissioner Peter Altman: "If we've got to draw it with a crayon, we've got to get some kind of drawing to get through to them" explaining the importance of the $25-million limited access highway.
The remarks came during a meeting in Dade City of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, a transportation board that includes the county commissioners and city officials. The County Commission likely will revisit the issue at its May 25 meeting.
"If we don't resolve anything, our only option probably is legal action against the Army Corps," said Bipin Parikh, assistant county administrator for development services.
Simon also suggested stronger lobbying efforts.
"We have to grab a senator or a congressman, someone at the federal level who can talk to them and make them feel the necessity," Simon said.
County officials say the east-west extension - which would run from Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway, then on to U.S. 41 - would be an important hurricane evacuation route.
Although the Army Corps no is longer questioning the need for the road, it is raising concerns about the 50 acres of wetlands that would be destroyed, particularly because the route slices through the Serenova nature preserve.
The county must prove the wetlands damage is minimal and unavoidable, said Mike Nowicki, the Army Corps official reviewing the project.
"I have not gotten a full response to the questions I asked back in February of 2002," Nowicki told the Pasco Times.
Specifically, Nowicki has asked why the county can't make a narrower road that would destroy fewer wetlands.
The county's plans call for a 65-mph road, which would require wider lanes and shoulders, and a separate bike path.
If the county designed a narrower road for 45-mph traffic, and if the bike path was included on the shoulder of the road, the condensed project would damage fewer wetlands, Nowicki said.
But county officials don't want a 45-mph road. They want a highway akin to the Suncoast Parkway.
"They (the Army Corps) are literally telling us to redesign the extension like a subdivision road," county official Parikh said.
At one point, Parikh said, the agency couldn't even tell the difference between two Ridge Road projects: the extension, and the widening of an existing stretch of the road.
"They had no idea which link was what," he said.
Nowicki said that's not true. The two projects have separate application numbers, he said, so it's obvious which project is which.
Parikh suspects the Army Corps staff is "afraid to make a decision because of the controversial nature of this project." The road already has faced challenges from environmental groups.
Although Nowicki acknowledged the Army Corps might get sued by the county or the environmentalists - depending on who's unhappy with the permit decision - he said the agency is just trying to address all of the issues.
So are county officials, who say they have answered the corps' questions several times over.
"We should be driving on that road by now," Commissioner Ann Hildebrand said.
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com
