Limiting access to road will expand its usefulness
Published October 7, 2004
The knock on wood is loud and clear.
Tuesday afternoon, County Administrator John Gallagher tapped his hand on his desk, signaling his hope the Ridge Road Extension could be built free of intersections and driveway cuts. Considering the ramifications, an imitation of Nikita Khrushchev's shoe-on-the-table pounding would have been just as appropriate.
Turning the road from controlled access - where traffic could enter at multiple intersections - to limited access is an admirable goal the county is right to pursue. It will increase the road's safety, allow traffic to move more efficiently and answer political considerations as well.
Environmentalists have criticized the proposed 8-mile, east-west highway linking Ridge Road at Moon Lake to U.S. 41 as a publicly financed boost to the private development of undeveloped ranch land.
"It's important to do this ordinance to say to the naysayers, "No, we're not' " building it to aid development, said Commissioner Pat Mulieri.
The county has itself to blame for that criticism because the original justification for the new road included the intent to provide "access to existing undeveloped property." The county is wise to change course and recognize that development of vacant land should be a byproduct of an improved transportation network, not the impetus.
Better yet, the 2004 hurricane season amplified the future road's necessity as an evacuation route. Officials ordered 168,000 people to evacuate their west Pasco homes as Charley approached in August. Later, Frances and Jeanne brought other evacuation orders.
An evacuation of Pasco County's flood zones is projected to take 16 hours to complete, but it would take a day and a half under the likely scenario Pasco evacuates at the same time as Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. The Ridge Road Extension is intended to help ease motorists inland from the coast.
Tuesday afternoon, Gallagher briefed commissioners on the road plan and asked them to delete the Ridge Road Extension from a proposed ordinance governing access to new roads. As written, the ordinance included a map detailing four access points for the Ridge Road Extension: one at the interchange with the Suncoast Parkway, two on the Bexley Ranch property and a fourth between U.S. 41 and the CSX railroad tracks.
Gallagher wants the access points eliminated for negotiating purposes. He could bargain them back into the road-management plan in exchange for low-cost right of way. But, Gallagher and County Attorney Robert Sumner acknowledged the county hoped to obtain the land for the highway while simultaneously keeping it free of clutter.
A westward extension of Ridge Road toward central Pasco County has been a part of the county's long-term road network plan since the 1980s. The County Commission approved the route in 1997, and construction on the road, budgeted originally at $26-million, was expected to have been completed years ago. It has been stalled by a challenge from environmentalists and then delays in obtaining proper federal permits.
Pasco has no multilaned road linking west and central Pasco. State Road 54 is just now being widened between Seven Springs and Gunn Highway, and plans to widen State Road 52 have been delayed and scaled back because of escalating right of way costs.
Extending Ridge Road is imperative to a better east-west transportation network in Pasco County. Limiting traffic access points magnifies its importance as a high-speed highway instead of just another traffic-choked local road.
