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Public Weighs In On Lithia-Pinecrest Project Plans

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By LAURA FRAZIER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2008

Lithia - Project maps and video presentations on display Nov. 18 at The Palmetto Club at FishHawk Ranch impressed Judy Lambert of Brandon, but the traffic and development she witnessed on her way to Lithia astonished her.

It had been 20 years since Lambert ventured that far south on Lithia-Pinecrest Road, the perpetually congested commuter route at the center of discussion that night at a Hillsborough County public workshop.

"I can't believe they allowed this sprawl," Lambert said, tracing her fingers along subdivisions and business plazas shown on a map. She said things have changed since the days when children would ride horses past her house on Lithia-Pinecrest, two blocks south of State Road 60.

"Now I can't get out of my driveway," she said. "It's a failed road and unfortunately something has to be done."

The county plans to widen the road between County Road 39 in Lithia and State Road 60 in Brandon.

Alternatives on the table include leaving the road as is and plans to expand it to six lanes using land to the east, west or both and building a 22-foot median.

County engineering consultant Steve Gordillo said only 41 of more than 200 people at the meeting submitted written comments, but many perused the displays, picked up pamphlets and spoke passionately about the project.

Kelly Cornelius and Pam Prysner of Lithia came to oppose the prospect of six lanes of traffic running through their mostly rural neck of the woods near County Road 39.

"That's I-75 going through rural Lithia," said Cornelius, a member of R-Land, a grassroots citizens group devoted to the preservation of rural Lithia's bucolic landscape and lifestyle.

"It's a thinly veiled recipe for sprawl," she said. "Anytime a road is planned through a rural area, developers' mouths start to water."

Gordillo said traffic studies completed last December indicate the road will require six lanes to keep up with traffic volume through 2038. The studies are being done in accordance with Federal Highway Administration standards because the county wants the federal government to pay for half the costs.

"We have to do the study for the six lanes the feds are recommending or we won't get the funding," Gordillo said. "That doesn't mean we're going to build six lanes right away. It's just a study."
That didn't appease Cornelius.

"We are gonna full-on fight it," she said.

FishHawk Ranch resident Peitra Donovan said the congested road is long overdue for a fix, but safety might be at stake if six lanes of traffic run close to sidewalks where children walk and bike and board school buses.

"I can't see six lanes, but they definitely need to widen it," Donovan said.

If the project is approved for federal funding, county managers will have to figure out where to find matching county funds. Project manager Reg Alford said there is no funding on the books or currently available for the project.

Alford said the county is coordinating its project with developer Newland Communities' plans to widen a 1-mile stretch of Lithia-Pinecrest to four lanes between Adelaide and Bloomingdale avenues. The developer agreed to pay for the improvements when it bought land that Pulte Homes previously planned to develop into the Lake Hutto development.

Newland's project is in the design stage and will be expandable to six lanes if necessary, Alford said.
The county is scheduled to roll out its final recommendations for the Lithia-Pinecrest road widening project at a public hearing next spring. The earliest construction could begin is sometime in 2012.

The public can submit comments through Dec. 5 through the county's project Web site page at www.lpcstudy.com or call Gordillo at (813) 282-2348.

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523.

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