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Interchange could help Lutz-Lake Fern Road keep up with times

The county wants the state's toll-road authority to weigh in on a proposed Suncoast Parkway interchange.

By RODNEY THRASH
Published March 20, 2005

LUTZ - Ten years ago, Lutz-Lake Fern Road was, as Ned Baier puts it, "a two-lane country road."

Today, there's nothing country about it. With more than 10,000 people living along the road, Lutz-Lake Fern has "more people than ... downtown Tampa," said Baier, a Hillsborough County transportation planner. Some 17,000 cars use the roadway daily and more are expected to do the same as new homes and a planned high school rise in coming years.

"It's a failed road," Baier said.

But it doesn't have to be. On Wednesday, county commissioners took the first step toward ensuring that it is not.

By a 7-0 vote, the board asked the state's toll-road authority, Florida Turnpike Enterprise, to return in 30 days with its recommendation for a proposed Lutz-Lake Fern interchange on the Suncoast Parkway.

The agency has already completed a traffic study, Baier said, and "the results are promising to build that interchange at that intersection."

So is this:

About $20-million has been shaved off the price of the Suncoast interchange. The average cost of interchanges is $30-million, but the Suncoast is not expected to exceed $10-million.

Why?

Construction crews shaped the property for an interchange when they built the Suncoast.

"We had originally planned to build an interchange at this location," said Alison Stettner, the turnpike's regional planning administrator. "Therefore, the plans are already at 30 percent design."

Tolls could pay some or all of the costs of the Suncoast interchange, which is not yet funded. Or the turnpike could turn to the Florida Department of Transportation for assistance. After all, improvements to Lutz-Lake Fern could reduce traffic on Dale Mabry Highway, a state road.

Whatever route the turnpike takes, Stettner said design and construction should not last more than three years.

"Two years for construction, one year for design," she said.

Improvements to Lutz-Lake Fern won't end with the Suncoast interchange. Of the 106 roads the county says it needs to improve but cannot afford to, Lutz-Lake Fern is No. 5.

So county transportation planners also asked the County Commission to set aside $650,000 in next year's budget to study widening the road to four lanes. That would cost an estimated $27-million.

"I think we're looking at a dual approach," Baier said.

And that's just fine with the Lutz-Lake Fern Communities Coalition. Since April 2003, the group has lobbied for various infrastructure improvements.

"I think we've got a unique opportunity to create a showcase signature roadway here," coalition president Sharon Calvo said.

-Rodney Thrash can be reached at 813 269-5313 or rthrash@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 19, 2005, 08:39:05]