Pasco planning commission to choose remedy for SR 54, 56 corridor traffic

It’s now up to the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization to decide on a remedy for predicted traffic congestion on the corridor of State Roads 54 and 56. Over the past seven months, two task forces comprised of concerned residents, landowners and business owners have studied ways to head off what traffic experts believe will become a gridlocked transportation corridor by the year 2040.

Although the widening of State Road 54 and State Road 56 to 6 lanes has provided some relief for drivers, the reprieve won’t last for very long, according to the MPO. In the next 25 years, the population of Pasco County will triple with most of the growth – 135,000 new residents – settling in large-scale community developments on the 54/56 corridor.“They’re building hundreds of new homes along that corridor that will dump a ton of more trips onto 54/56,” MPO senior planner Manny Lajmiri said. “If we’re going to be ready for it, we have to act now.”

Last year the MPO formed two task forces, one to represent the corridor from U.S. 19 to U.S. 41 and the other to represent the corridor from U.S. 41 to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. The members have met monthly to discuss possible solutions and suggestions.

The task forces held their final meetings March 28 and 31 and will present their recommendations to the MPO on Thursday.

“Each task force came up with their own recommendations, but many of them overlap,” said Sandy Graves, chairwoman of the “east” task force.

Though some of the six recommendations submitted by each task force entail traditional solutions such as at-grade express lanes for buses, others are more innovative, Graves said.

Included is a recommendation by both task forces to build elevated express lanes to feature a devoted guideway for bus or rail transit.

At a joint meeting in February, the task force members opposed a suggestion by Florida’s Department of Transportation to build elevated lanes over U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes because of the effect on the business district at that intersection.

Since then, task force members have decided to keep the idea of elevated lanes under consideration – provided local traffic can carry on using at-grade roads, and pedestrian bridges are included.

Residents can locate a summary of the recommendations at www.vision54-56.com