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Road Proposals Raise Concerns

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By TOM BRENNAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2007

VALRICO - Reid Morgan said he thinks county officials are close to making a fatal decision.

Morgan, who lives on Thompson Road, said he was aghast when he discovered the county is contemplating extending his street to the west. He said he can't believe anyone would want to funnel more traffic through the two nearly 90-degree turns that challenge drivers from ending up in a neighbor's front yard.

'People are going to get killed,' Morgan said.

The proposed extension is among the recommendations county consultants are making as part of the South County Transportation Study, an attempt to find ways to ease traffic snarls in rapidly growing areas south of Bloomingdale Avenue.

The county will hold two public meetings on the proposals next week.

Thompson Road residents aren't the only ones alarmed by the recommendations. People in the Indian Hills subdivision and those living off John Moore Road are up in arms about a suggestion to connect John Moore and Apache Lane. Lithia residents are concerned about a proposed bypass linking Interstates 75 and 4 near their homes, and people who reside along the Alafia River question the plan to have two additional river crossings.

Keli Paul, project manager for Cambridge Systematics, the consultant the county hired to examine options, said plans are conceptual, and there are no set paths for new roads or extensions.

She said the purpose of the public meetings is to get comments from residents before taking the final recommendations to the county Planning Commission and county commissioners next year.

Paul said she has received a flurry of e-mails and telephone calls about the recommendations. She said complaints about the Thompson and John Moore roads proposals use the same rationale: connecting roads will create through routes and draw too much traffic to residential neighborhoods.

'The biggest issue we heard from people was the lack of connectivity, especially east to west,' she said.

One of the recommendations would extend FishHawk Boulevard from Lithia-Pinecrest Road to Turkey Creek Road. Thompson Road, Paul said, would be extended to meet the new leg of FishHawk Boulevard.

'It may look good on some map, but you have to take reality and what's on the ground into account,' Morgan said.

'If you extend it Thompson Road without straightening those doglegs, you are creating a death trap.'

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Public meetings on the South County Transportation Plan

WHEN/WHERE: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, South Shore Regional Service Center, 410 30th St. S.E., Ruskin; 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Riverview High School cafeteria, 11311 Boyette Road, Riverview

CONTACT: Go to www

.hillsboroughcounty.org/pgm and click on the South County Transportation Plan link under current news or call Ned Baier at (813) 272-5849

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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