BOCC Submits ‘Letter Of Interest’ For S.R. 56 Extension Lanes

By Matt Wiley

It’s said that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the old adage has proven true for the extension of S.R. 56, from where it currently dead-ends at Meadow Pointe Blvd. in Wesley Chapel to its future connection all the way to U.S. 301 in Zephyrhills. 

During the May 19 Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting in New Port Richey, commissioners voted unanimously (5-0) to move forward with submitting a Letter of Interest to the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) for a loan to help build the 6.7-mile S.R. 56 extension as a four-lane road, as opposed to the already-approved two-lane extension. The four-lane extension is estimated to cost more than $60 million.

Complaints about the funding cut from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT, which gave the current, more-than-$30-million contract for a two-lane extension to Tampa-based Cone & Graham, Inc., in October) prompted action from Pasco’s State legislators to identify a plan to get the four-lane road built for their constituents, without sticking them with the bill.

In April, Dist. 17 State Senator John Legg (R-Lutz) and Dist. 38 State Representative Danny Burgess (R-Zephyrhills) proposed the idea of taking out a low-interest loan from SIB. The catch was that a Letter of Interest from Pasco had to be submitted by May 29. That letter was officially signed and submitted on May 28.

Commissioners agreed to submit the letter to take out a 30-year, $27-million loan that will be paid back beginning in 2019. Under the current FDOT contract, developers along the extension already are required to cough up the money for the additional two lanes, which would be built sometime in the future (when traffic and development warrants them), as well as donate the land needed for construction. The county wants the developers to pay higher mobility fees to help pay back the loan. Details haven’t been finalized, but the city of Zephyrhills also has stepped forward to pay 10-percent of the total loan, as well.

“The details haven’t been ironed out, yet,” says Dist. 2 Comm. Mike Moore, who represents Wesley Chapel on the BOCC. “But, I’m confident that county staff and the developers will work it out.”

Comm. Moore says that he is 100-percent for the four-lane expansion and had no reservations about voting to pursue the loan.

“It will definitely bring an economic boost to the area,” Comm. Moore says. “It’s a regional road, not a local one. In addition to Wesley Chapel, it also will help out Dade City and Zephyrhills, tremendously.”

Chief assistant county attorney David Goldstein told commissioners at the meeting that, if it’s determined that payments on the loan would hold up already-planned future transportation projects in Pasco’s capital improvement plan (such as the future I-75 interchange at Overpass Rd. that received Federal approval last year), the county has the ability to walk away from it.

“The application process isn’t binding,” Comm. Moore says. “Until you actually take the money, you haven’t accepted it.”

Now that the Letter of Interest has been submitted, Comm. Moore says that the formal application period will begin in July.

According to the U.S. DOT, “SIBs are revolving infrastructure investment funds for surface transportation that are established and administered by states” and SIB loans have been used locally for other projects in Tampa, including the recent construction of the I-4 to Selmon Expressway Connector.

Dirson De Mesquita, who lives in the Easton Park community in New Tampa and is the owner of OTB Delight Café (located in the Shoppes of Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs [BBD] Blvd., across from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel), says that the S.R. 56 extension would directly benefit businesses like his in Wesley Chapel and attract more customers who live along Morris Bridge Rd. in New Tampa.

“I talk to my neighbors and they tell me that one of the reasons they don’t come up to Wesley Chapel is because they have to deal with Cross Creek Blvd.,” De Mesquita says. “It would make my life easier, for sure.”

De Mesquita says that he’d be happy to see the extension, whether it’s two lanes or four.

Stay tuned to WCNeighborhoodNews.com for further developments.