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U.S. 19 Project Drives Some People Up The Wall

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: November 26, 2008

PORT RICHEY - Maybe U.S. 19 projects will turn out OK, but local business owners have raised doubts about the impact from continuous right turn lanes, closing some driveways and redesigning medians.

The safety upgrades to the six-lane highway could start by fall 2010, engineers with the Florida Department of Transportation explained at recent workshops with property owners.

U.S. 19 has earned its reputation as "one of the most dangerous highways in the nation," a DOT video explains. The highway logged some 3,109 traffic crashes from 2005 through 2007 from the Pinellas County line to S.R. 52.

Some city and county leaders have complained about the large gaps in the continuous right turn lanes which will straddle both sides of the highway.

The extra turn lanes will disappear in areas of U.S. 19 with some of the heaviest traffic - near Main Street in New Port Richey, plus the busy intersection at Ridge Road in the Port Richey area.

DOT engineers have explained the costs could soar if they have to purchase land to make room for the extra turn lanes. Also, new street lights or utility lines installed in recent years block the turn lanes in other areas.

One of the comment forms addressed the spotty, "continuous" right turn lanes.

"Since Ridge Road is the biggest bottleneck on U.S. 19, please look at the possibility of constructing northbound right turn lane from Grand Boulevard to Ridge Road," Doug Uden, Pasco County's transportation planning coordinator, wrote.

Other proposed changes could effectively shut off access to a police impound lot behind the Cox Car Care building at 7018 U.S. 19, according to a comment form by James and Lynda Wood. The business also is scheduled to lose a strip along its frontage, which could make it tricky when backing cars out of repair bays.

The loss of its northern drive might block semi-truck deliveries to the Rain Thatch furniture store at 7118 U.S. 19, Michael S. Wachtler wrote.

Commissioner Michael Cox sympathized with business owners during a recent meeting of the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization. Now a financial planner Cox once operated Cox Car Care, an auto repair business that still bears his name.

"I barely survived the expansion of U.S. 19," Cox said about his former business during a widening project in the early 1980s.

U.S. 19 is "on top of a lot of businesses" when the highway became six lanes, Cox commented about the slender frontages of many firms. He wasn't sure if the frontages can be trimmed much more.

Cox also worried that the disruption of businesses during U.S. 19 construction could make it even tougher for employees trying to put food on the table during a sour economy.

While the project has spurred some complaints, few would disagree that U.S. 19 needs safety improvements.

U.S. 19 has logged 3,402 injuries and 36 fatalities from accidents from 2005-07 between the Pinellas County line and S.R. 52, according to a video shown by DOT consultant David Rast at a recent MPO meeting. The video is played at workshops, too, and might soon be available online.

More than half of the accidents were rear-end collisions, Rast pointed out. Another 22 percent were "T-bone" side-impact accidents.

Studies have shown that fewer driveways onto U.S. 19 would increase safety, Rast told the Pasco MPO members.

In addition, the U.S. 19 project also will affect 97 medians, Rast said. Some will be closed while others will become "channelized."

The directional channelization essentially means turn lanes are placed within medians. Very few medians will be open "crossovers," where cars can zip across all six lanes from side streets or parking lots.

Officials from the District 7 DOT office, in Tampa, have held several workshops to collect comments. The last workshop is scheduled for 4 - 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, at Jewish Community Center of West Pasco, 9841 Scenic Drive, Port Richey. The focus will be on the section of U.S. 19 between Ridge Road and S.R. 52.

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