Downs Blvd. a toll road? Idea floated

It would be Hillsborough's way of having Pasco residents pay to help widen the much-used road.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published August 17, 2007

Early morning rush hour traffic jams the southbound lanes of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard while northbound lanes are almost clear. A proposed county multimillion dollar project will widen the road. Transportation experts don't have much confidence it reduce congestion.
	[Mike Pease | Times]

NEW TAMPA - On paper, you'd think Helen Green fits the profile of someone who might benefit from a Hillsborough commissioner's idea to turn Bruce B. Downs Boulevard into a toll road.

She's 78. Lives in the New Tampa community of Pebble Creek. Shops at Wal-Mart on Regents Park Drive.

If anything, toll collections on the county line - an idea suggested Wednesday by Commissioner Ken Hagan - would help widen the artery that's a traffic lifeline for Green.

But, well, here's what she thinks:

"It's so stupid, it doesn't make sense. Today, I went to my chiropractor in Pasco. I don't want to have to pay to get there and back. I think it's ridiculous."

The Hillsborough commission voted 5-2 to get its staff to examine whether it can set up toll booths at the county line. Hillsborough officials are apparently fed up with Pasco officials and all the traffic coming south. And they worry the situation will get even worse as 12,500-home Wiregrass Ranch and other large developments build up along Bruce B. Downs.

Hillsborough officials wanted Pasco to kick in a portion of the $28-million they are spending to widen Bruce B. Downs south of the border. Pasco said no.

How did Pasco officials react to Hagan's suggestion?

"I laughed when I read that, but at the same time, it's sad," said Michele Baker, Pasco's chief assistant county administrator. "We're all in this situation. Everyone has to get creative. They're being creative."

She laughed again when she said that.

Turnpike authorities look for some standout characteristics before setting up tolls on a road.

"We get many requests to see if future roads could be toll roads," said Jo Ann Hurley, spokeswoman for the Florida Turnpike Enterprise. "It's always a state road, or an interchange with a state road, or a project that is a future high-speed limited access road."

Would Bruce B. Downs qualify?

"Bruce B. Downs is none of these things," she said. "Bruce B. Downs has driveways every five feet."

Which brings us to the question of equity: Who pays? Is anyone exempt?

"I wonder who would make the most money?" said Doug Uden, Pasco's metropolitan planning chief. "I wonder if any of their people use State Road 56 or Interstate 75 or use the new malls? How do you tell who's going where?"

When Pasco extended SR 56 eastward from I-75, Uden said, the studies showed much of the traffic originating from New Tampa.

"They will find a much larger percentage of the traffic goes north," Baker said.

"Tell me how to put the booth up," Uden said.

During the negotiations last month, Pasco and Wiregrass officials agreed to create a Park & Ride station on Bruce B. Downs to help relieve the traffic.

"We'll continue to partner on other projects to improve mobility," Baker said.

Turnpike officials said putting up tolls is a long process that demands a lot of number crunching. Both Hurley and Sue Chrzan, spokeswoman for the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, said they haven't been approached by anyone in Hillsborough.

Bob Campbell, Hillsborough's transport planning chief, and Hagan, didn't return calls for comment.

Maria Simmons, 55, had plenty to say.

"This is a main road," said the 55-year-old Tampa Palms resident. "This is not a highway. I go visit my family in Pasco. I go shopping. I go to JCPenney. I'm going to the new malls."

"They hit us with enough taxes," she said. "I don't think it should be a toll road."

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at (813)909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 22:00:20]