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Drainage project to close Lutz-Lake Fern Road
By BILL COATS
© St. Petersburg Times, LUTZ -- Hillsborough County plans to close Lutz-Lake Fern Road during an upcoming weekend to replace drainage pipes under the road. Drivers leaving Lutz-Lake Fern's largest subdivisions will lose direct access to North Dale Mabry Highway. From Friday night, Sept. 21, through early Monday morning, Sept. 24, Lutz-Lake Fern is to be closed a quarter-mile east of Heritage Harbor Parkway. That's where Rocky Creek flows beneath the road into Cheval. Two existing drain pipes carrying the creek are to be replaced with three, increasing the drainage capacity 40 to 50 percent. In a public meeting last week, county engineers said they originally planned to install the new drains while keeping Lutz-Lake Fern open. But that approach, requiring construction of temporary lanes, would have cost $190,000 and would have taken six weeks, said Martin Montalvo, an environmental scientist with the county's stormwater management section. "We would have built the road three times," said Randy Pierce, a senior engineer in the department. Closing the road reduces the project's cost to $108,264, Pierce said. Four years ago, the winter rains of El Nino caused significant flooding along Lutz-Lake Fern, including the early construction of Heritage Harbor west of Rocky Creek. Subsequent stormwater studies by the county concluded that the Rocky Creek drain is too small. Chinfeng Ho, another senior engineer with the county, said Rocky Creek downstream of Lutz-Lake Fern recently was cleared in preparation for the new culvert. "So far, we're hearing very good comments," Juan Lopez, the county's project manager, said of the work after a meeting Wednesday with a handful of neighbors. But one skeptic was Tim Smith of VillaRosa, who doubted whether the project would reopen as planned at 6 a.m. on Monday the 24th. "I got a name of somebody that I can call that morning when that road's not opened yet," he said. - Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 226-3469 or coats@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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