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North-south corridor to be 6 lanes

Work on Starkey Road and Park Street south of East Bay Drive is planned to take place in four phases.

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published December 22, 2005

LARGO - Starting next year, a mammoth, multiphase road project is scheduled to begin widening the north-south corridor that consists of Starkey Road and Park Street.

The project is planned to take place in four phases, said Jim Collins, division engineer for Pinellas County.

The work will add two traffic lanes - one lane in each direction - to the road for 7.6 miles south of East Bay Drive. It also includes adding piped drainage, sidewalks and bike lanes.

Altogether, it will cost $69.8-million over the next five years to turn Starkey and Park into a six-lane road, according to Pinellas County's capital improvement plan. Of that, $67.6-million is budgeted to come from the Penny for Pinellas sales tax.

Residents along the corridor have heard the work is coming, said Jen Byers, who is on the board of directors in the South Bardmoor neighborhood.

Byers plans to put her home up for sale next spring and worries about the effect of the work on her plans, but she acknowledges that Starkey should be widened.

"It needs to be done," said Byers, 60, a retired newspaper reporter. When drivers are going north on Starkey and trying to turn left onto 102nd Avenue, the existing turn lane is "far too short," she said.

"And that's just one section," she said. "The whole road system is too small for the traffic it's carrying. We all know that living in North Pinellas."

South of East Bay Drive, Starkey carries an average of 32,000 to 36,000 cars and trucks a day.

The first phase of the project will begin on Starkey Road from 84th Lane to Bryan Dairy Road sometime in 2006, though the bulk of the construction funds are programmed to be spent during the 2007 fiscal year.

Collins said the design for the entire project is in its final stage and there are many more details to iron out before a solid construction date can be set. The issue of utilities needs to be addressed and right of way needs to be obtained for affected properties that the county doesn't own.

"There's a whole lot of work that goes into these projects that the public doesn't see," he said.

Construction along Park Street from Tyrone Boulevard up to 84th Lane will begin in 2008. The project will begin on Starkey Road at Bryan Dairy up to Ulmerton Road in 2009 and move from Starkey/Keene Road from Ulmerton Road to East Bay Drive sometime in 2009.

County officials estimate that each phase will take about two years.

Times staff writer Richard Danielson contributed to this report.

Pinellas County officials plan to widen Starkey Road and Park Street south of East Bay Drive with construction taking place in four phases:

Starkey Road from 84th Lane to Bryan Dairy Road, beginning in 2006. Cost: $18.2-million.

Park Street, from Tyrone Boulevard to 84th Lane, beginning in 2008. Cost: $16.1-million.

Starkey Road, from Bryan Dairy Road to Ulmerton Road, beginning in 2009. Cost: $19.2-million.

Starkey Road, from Ulmerton to East Bay Drive, beginning in 2009. Cost: $16.3-million.

[Last modified December 22, 2005, 00:59:14]