Help is coming quicker for the SR 56/I-75 interchange…but quick enough?

divergingFolks tired of pulling their hair out during frustrating morning and evening drives through the I-75 and S.R. 56 interchange got some good news recently when the Florida Department of Transportation said they will be speeding up construction to help alleviate the congestion, but that it likely not soon enough to make local drivers happy.

FDOT will be adding construction of a diverging diamond interchange (DDI) to its current five-year work plan. Construction on the interchange should begin in 2020 instead of 2024, as previously announced.

FDOT is banking on the DDI to relieve the traffic flow. There is an entire website devoted to explaining why the DDI is better and safer than other diamond-shaped interchanges (divergingdiamond.com), and it touts benefits like almost half as many conflict points as conventional diamond interchanges, better sight distance at turns and positive response from the public.

Florida is building its first divergent diamond at the I-75 and University Parkway interchange in Sarasota. To see a video of how it works, read the online version of this story at NTneighborhoodNews.com.

Is 2020 soon enough to placate many of the 55,000 drivers daily that pass through interchange from the east, or the 45,000 coming from the west?

District 2 Pasco County Board of County Commissioners member Mike Moore was happy to see FDOT adjust the construction timetable, but says he is still not as happy as he would like to be. With a 2020 start, construction could take another two or three years.

“Obviously, the future is now. The traffic is here now,’’ said Commissioner Moore.  “It got moved up, but I’d like to see the design phase wrapping up in 2017 or so, with the construction phase completed by 2019, 2020.”

FDOT, however, is saying the project will begin in 2020. It presented its new plan, which has a price tag of $8-10-million according to Moore, to Pasco commissioners at a Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting in Dade City Nov. 9.

The S.R. 56/I -75 interchange continues to be a bone of contention for those in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area, and the 2.3-mile-long northbound exit routinely experiences back-ups a mile or so long, sometimes even reaching the I-275 apex at the Pasco County line. With the opening of the Tampa Premium Outlets on S.R. 56 west of I-75, that traffic is expected to worsen during the holiday shopping season.

The S.R. 56/75 interchange was opened over a decade ago, and in 2011 a new ramp was constructed to ease congestion, to the delight of many in the community. However, the two-lane exit is plagued by long lines of vehicles waiting to exit left or right (east or west) onto S.R. 56.

According to FDOT, 26,500 vehicles use the northbound exit onto S.R. 56 daily. Comparatively, only 18,000 vehicles each day are using the Bruce B. Downs exit a few miles south, and 11,000 are using the S.R. 54 exit a few miles north.

For Steven Domonkos, those numbers make it clear that 2020 is not soon enough to make the changes.

“I’m just kind of surprised that FDOT is so far behind the 8-ball on this,’’ said Domonkos, the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Economic Development Committee chairman. “This is not like we didn’t know the outlets and (Wiregrass) mall were coming to the area.  Not addressing the traffic situation until now is just sort of confusing.”

Domonkos is part of a new three-person transportation task force recently formed by the WCCC. He said the goal of the task force is to gather information and concerns from residents and to “make sure we have a seat at the table” so those concerns can be passed on to FDOT.

Domonkos, who is also the specialty leasing manager for the Shops at Wiregrass Mall, is disappointed at the negative effects he says traffic at the interchange, and in general around the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area, is having on local businesses. 

“We’re getting complaints, we feel like it’s hurting Wesley Chapel, and hurting businesses,’’ Domonkos said. “We definitely plan to make our presence known.”

Domonkos is open to the idea of a DDI. Otherwise, he’s not sure what the solution is.

“I’m not sure there is an answer at this point,’’ he said. “I think the (DDI) will work, but now it’s just a matter of getting FDOT to move the timetable on that.”

Moore said he also is not done pushing a more immediate timetable.

“We’ve had a number of citizen complaints about (the interchange),’’ Moore says. “People need relief in this area. We did express to FDOT we would like the project accelerated.”

Moore said state Rep. Danny Burgess (R-San Antonio) also is pressing the issue, and both are in constant contact with other members of the state legislature to attract allies for future discussions.

“The (DDI) concept is really cool,’’ Moore said. “One of the things we don’t want to do (when it comes to funding) is be detrimental to the other projects that have been on the plan. We don’t want to hinder those. But we need this sooner than later.”

Volunteers make New Tampa food drive a success

image4Thanks to New Tampa volunteers, 1,700 local families that could have gone hungry on Thanksgiving were treated to all the food necessary to enjoy a great meal on the recent holiday.

Pam Smith, a resident of Cross Creek, oversees the annual Thanksgiving food drive, now in its 17th year. She has been part of those efforts for the last 10 years. She currently serves as president of the St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It is based at the church, which is located on Cross Creek Blvd. and one of New Tampa’s largest churches, serving more than 3,000 families.

“St. Vincent de Paul is a standalone, nonprofit organization that helps people in need with food, shelter, clothes and utilities,” Smith explains. It is not a ministry of the church, but is a separate organization. It is made up of Catholic men and women who want to serve the needy and suffering people in their community. It started in France in the 1830s, and was established in the United States in St. Louis, MO, in 1845. The Conference at St. Mark’s is one of 10 in the West Hillsborough District. All are based out of local churches.

“We run a year-round food pantry serving New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, and some surrounding areas,” explains Pam, who also is a member of St. Mark.

At Thanksgiving each year, that effort expands to work with dozens of organizations throughout Tampa and beyond to identify groups and individuals who don’t have the means to buy their own Thanksgiving dinners.

Smith explains she works with outreach groups, such as local Catholic churches, New Life Ministries Outreach, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Advisory Council, and many others, along with 16 local schools, to identify families in need. Several groups pick up a total of 1,300 prepared boxes of food to distribute among their clients. This year, St. Vincent de Paul volunteer drivers made an additional 408 home deliveries to families in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, and other parts of Tampa and surrounding communities.

“People don’t think there’s a lot of need in our area,” says Smith, “but that’s because it’s hidden. Our ZIP code actually has the least food resources available, compared to the number of hungry people. We – who are fortunate – don’t think this need is present in our community, but it is.”

Smith and dozens of volunteers spend three weeks collecting food, sorting it, and boxing it up. They get food donations and financial support from the people of St. Mark’s, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Tampa Palms, and other local churches. Plus, many schools whose social workers and guidance counselors identify children in need also hold drives to collect food for the effort. Smith says Boy Scout Troop 148 from St. Mark, the National Honor Society at Wharton High School and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) at Freedom High School are among the organizations that provide the resources and manpower to make the colossal project happen.

“It’s not just an effort of St. Vincent de Paul,” Pam says. “It truly takes a whole conglomeration of community groups to make this happen.”

fooddriveSteve Channels is Pam Smith’s neighbor in Cross Creek, and he’s also a Freedom High School teacher and advisor for the school’s FBLA group, and leader with Boy Scout Troop 180 and Cub Scout Pack 360, both in Tampa Palms. He says he has participated in Thanksgiving food drive for eight or nine years now, encouraging the groups he leads to collect food, and bringing volunteers out to help. He says this year, he and about 40 Freedom students sorted food and packed nearly 700 boxes of the 1,300 that were filled for families.

“Students get community service hours, but that’s not why they’re there,” Channels says. “Most of them really want to be there because they enjoy being a part of what this is all about.”

“People are very generous,” says Smith, who explains the Thanksgiving outreach takes about $35,000 in addition to the food donations that are collected and countless volunteer hours. She says each family receives enough non-perishable food items for a complete Thanksgiving meal, including stuffing, potatoes, rice, beans, corn, yams, gravy, cranberries, and even cake mix and frosting. This year, they also received a box of Bisquick and a loaf of bread. Each family also receives a gift card to buy a turkey. “We used to distribute turkeys, but logistically, it’s difficult. Plus, the week before Thanksgiving, the price of turkey is much less than we can purchase in advance, so we give a gift card, which allows the families to purchase their own turkeys at a lower cost, and allows us to serve more people.”

Smith says there’s one word to describe how people feel when they receive the Thanksgiving box that’s been prepared for them, and that’s “grateful.”

“The folks we deliver food to are very vulnerable,” she explains. “Just yesterday, I delivered a box to a family in a motel. Another family had just moved into an apartment, and it had literally nothing in it. No couches, nothing in the kitchen, no TV. It’s sobering when you go to them. But, they are super grateful, because now, at least they have food.”

She says she followed up with the family in the apartment so that St. Vincent de Paul can help them get the basic things the mom, dad, and three children need.

And while the Thanksgiving food distribution has just wrapped up, Dec. 5 marks the first weekend of collecting toys, which will be given to children in need for Christmas.

“We provide toys to kids, and also socks, shoes, and pajamas to children of migrant workers, who prefer those gifts at Christmas,” Smith explains. A “giving tree” has been set up at St. Mark’s Church for the church members and larger community to share their generosity.

If you would like to support the efforts of St. Vincent de Paul at St. Mark’s, you can drop off or mail donations to St. Vincent de Paul, in care of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church at 9724 Cross Creek Blvd. To volunteer, email Smith at SVDP@stmarktampa.org.