TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Study At Stake, Official Warns

ADVERTISEMENT

By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: January 21, 2009

RIVERVIEW - County Commissioner Al Higginbotham warned members of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce last week that a group of adamant Lithia residents could derail years of efforts to persuade the county to improve Lithia-Pinecrest Road.

Higginbotham, speaking at the chamber's transportation symposium Jan. 13, said the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the county's long-range transportation agency, is now questioning the community's desire to widen the road to alleviate traffic congestion in the Brandon area.

The topic was brought up at the Jan. 6 MPO meeting, when Hillsborough County Director of Public Works Bob Gordon was scheduled to update members on the Lithia-Pinecrest Road widening study. A number of Lithia residents were on hand to speak against the widening. MPO members also received 41 e-mails from residents protesting the project.

The study was initiated in 2005-06, when the chamber lobbied to have Lithia-Pinecrest Road - which was on the county's unfunded list of road projects - moved up the priority list. The chamber's main concern was that Brandon has no four-lane north-south road running through the community, and the leg of Lithia-Pinecrest from Bloomingdale Avenue to State Road 60 was becoming increasingly congested.

The county agreed to launch a $2.5 million study.

"Now the question was raised at the MPO meeting whether the chamber should even have a place at the table" when it comes to making transportation decisions in the community, Higginbotham said. "The MPO's making a decision based on 41 e-mails and considering dropping the study. You've got to get out front."

Marsh Rainey, chairman of the chamber, urged chamber members to send their own e-mails in support of the study to MPO members.

"It's disturbing," said Rainey, who lives in Fish Hawk Trails off Lithia-Pinecrest Road. "We need to remind the decision-makers that chamber members are also residents of this community. Businesses don't vote, but we do."

Opponents of the study, however, remain undaunted.

To qualify for federal funding under Federal Highway Administration rules, the county was required to conduct a study showing the maximum improvements that could be made to Lithia-Pinecrest from State Road 60 to County Road 39. The study is required so all environmental impacts will be taken into consideration.

As a result, Higginbotham said, the county had to study a variety of alternatives, including widening Lithia-Pinecrest to six lanes all the way from State Road 60 to County Road 39. The study also included a "no-build" alternative.

"It was required that we study it, but six-laning from Boyette Road to 39 will never happen," Higginbotham said. "However, this group of residents has expressed enough concern to derail the entire thing."

The opposing residents say they don't trust the county to restrict the number of lanes once the study is approved and incorporated into the MPO's 2035 long-range transportation plan.

"There is a cloud of suspicion that hangs over this study," said Dover Woods resident George Niemann. "We question the motivation and what the staff has submitted as a basis for recommending six lanes. It defies logic."

Dorman Road resident Kelly Cornelius said Lithia residents are willing to live with the consequences of not making improvements to Lithia-Pinecrest.

"If poor planning means that our roads are overcrowded, it still should not mean taking out anyone's house for the widening of this road."

Gordon, however, said not using federal standards could mean losing millions in federal dollars for construction.

"The difference is going to be whether or not it has any eligibility for federal funding," he said, adding that it's ultimately up to county officials how much the road will be widened. "This (study) that's being performed by staff to federal standards does not usurp the authority and fully respects the MPO's long-range plan and the board of county commissioners' directions."

Federal standards require governments to look at traffic projections 20 years beyond a road's completion. The county would like to widen Lithia-Pinecrest to four lanes from State Road 60 to Lumsden Road and build a two-lane enhanced road south of Lumsden Road by 2018. The cost of the project is estimated at $200 million. There currently are no funds available.

MPO member Mary Mulhern warned against allowing the lure of federal dollars to dictate planning.

"I think the direction of the planning should come from the community and the planning commission and the Metropolitan Planning Organization as opposed to just the idea that we know there's money out there, let's spend it," she said.

Thompson Road resident Pam Clouston believes planning roads to federal standards only encourages urban sprawl.

"Everybody's talking about that fact that we gotta get the money, we gotta get the money," she said. "This is a recipe for sprawl."

Gordon said the county will host another public meeting on the study before the county commission votes on it. The long-range transportation plan will be updated in July.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT