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$150M interchange reshaping faces slowdown

Right-of-way issues involving two developments near SR 56 and I-75 may stall a plan that would reduce traffic.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published August 16, 2006

WESLEY CHAPEL - State officials are floating a $150-million overhaul of the State Road 56 intersection with Interstate 75, but among the problems they face are developments that come too close to the highway.

If realized, the interchange will sprout a twirl of changes, including two cloverleaf loops on the eastern side of the intersection, a 50-foot-tall flyover on the western side, and the removal of existing left-turn signals.

The move could reduce southbound interstate traffic during peak hours by as many as 1,200 vehicles an hour.

The proposals envisage a massive reshaping of an interchange that was opened just four years ago.

The overhaul is currently proposed in a 10-year time frame, said Bijan Behzadi, traffic design engineer with the Department of Transportation.

"We have no funding," said Bob Clifford, the department's planning manager. "These are just concepts to handle that intersection. The idea is just to segregate the movement so drivers don't have to get into too much weaving."

But, even with these caveats, state officials have already been in talks with two abutting developers on right-of-way issues, one of whose internal roads come too close for DOT's comfort.

The flyover would require right of way from the proposed 500-acre Cypress Creek Town Center, which straddles SR 56 west of I-75.

"We're talking to DOT and we're cooperating with them," said Bill Fullington, spokesman for the Richard E. Jacobs Group, Cypress Creek Town Center's developer. "Our planners are not concerned about it ... and view it as of little impact."

The flyover would rise 50 feet above I-75, dumping drivers into a "braided ramp," a technical term that means a side road alongside southbound I-75, Behzadi said.

The 1½-mile road brings drivers to a fork, where they can then choose to get on I-75 or I-275. The current system forces drivers to merge immediately onto I-75, then negotiate an accident-prone fork farther down the highway.

On the other side of I-75 along SR 56, the two-lane, one-way loops would affect Cypress Creek, a development separate from the town center. It is with this 340-acre development that DOT officials have concerns.

An internal road network, already built in the northern section of Cypress Creek, butts up too close to the highway to allow state officials much legroom to build one loop.

"Pasco (County) needs to be cognizant and not permit anything a minimum of 100 feet to 200 feet from the existing interstate right-of-way line," Behzadi said. "Pasco should have never let them come in that close. ... I wish the land use agency would look at traffic before they approve large-scale developments that eventually oversaturate highway systems."

A.C. "Chip" Skinner, the broker representing the landowners of that ongoing project, did not reply to a call for comment.

Doug Uden, the county's metropolitan planning director, said Pasco began to enforce stricter right-of-way preservation rules in the last 1½ years, after Cypress Creek was approved in July 2002.

"One of the things we've done since (then) ... was to require more setback in those areas with high-volume intersections," Uden said.

But faced with rising construction costs, the SR 56 overhaul is still just a paper project. Without the right-of-way negotiations, it is estimated to cost $150-million in today's terms. The loops alone would cost $25-million, Behzadi said.

"We are getting bids two to three times higher than what we can afford," he said.

Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development in Pasco County. He can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 16, 2006, 06:43:03]