SR 54 widening is on distant horizon

With the design stage not planned until 2011, it's expected to take at least another six years to get it done - and that's if all goes smoothly.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published November 16, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - Meet Martha Nichols.

She's 60, belongs to a bridge club at her Lake Bernadette home, and has a wicked sense of humor.

Wednesday evening, she and her friend, Anne Carlson, went to a public workshop that state officials held to show plans to widen State Road 54 between Curley and Morris Bridge roads - just outside the women's homes.

"When I heard their time line, I said, 'Oh good, at least now I know my funeral procession will be a nice, smooth ride,'" she said.

The state Department of Transportation wants to expand that clogged, two-lane stretch of SR 54. From Curley Road eastward to Foxwood Boulevard, it'll go to six lanes. From Foxwood to Morris Bridge Road, it will be four lanes.

Here's what Nichols and Carlson found laughable.

The plan's design stage is scheduled for 2011, give or take a year or two, said Jeff Novotny, of American Engineering, the state's consultant for the project.

Say it's 2011. Novotny said it may be two years before design is completed. Another two for officials to buy right-of-way. Another two to build the road.

And that's if things go smoothly.

Can't be helped, officials said. Budgets are tightening. Road building costs stay high. The project still needs federal environmental approval.

Inside the club house at the Links of Lake Bernadette, a video was on looped play, showing the plans. Big cardboard displays lined the room.

Up to 16 homes and businesses may need to be relocated because of the project. Average daily traffic on the road is nearly 24,000 now, and could hit 37,000 by 2020.

There were two alternatives to the planned expansion. One would run slightly farther north than the other. One costs $105-million; the other costs $122-million. For both alternatives, there's no money set aside now for right-of-way purchases or construction.

Still, Carlson and Nichols applauded state officials for at least trying.

"I'm glad they're doing this, but there is no planning in this county," Carlson said. "They really shouldn't let another subdivision in here before they do the roads."

"I've been here 18 years," Nichols said. "It was bad then. Now it's impossible."

It was 7 p.m. Nichols and Carlson said goodbye. They had a bridge appointment to keep.

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

To comment

Deadline for input Nov. 26

The state Department of Transportation will accept public comments on the State Road 54 widening project. Send your comments to Manuel Santos, project manager, at (800)226-7220 or (813) 975-6173 or manuel.santos@dot.state.fl.us Send written mail to Florida Department of Transportation District 7, 11201 N. McKinley Drive, M.S. 7-500, Tampa, FL 33612-6456. For comments to be considered for the public hearing, they must be received by Nov. 26.

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 22:44:11]