Like almost every school in Tampa, Pride Elementary has traffic issues during drop-off and pick-up times.
Residents in K-Bar Ranch whose children attend the school may be receiving some relief, as the city and county are conducting a number of projects and studies in the area.
In another of Tampa City Council member Luis Viera’s community meetings on Aug. 22, residents had many of their concerns addressed by a panel of experts that the District 7 representative assembled, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan (who represents the New Tampa area for the county in Dist. 2), Dist. 6 Hillsborough School Board member Karen Perez and transportation and mobility experts from the city and county.
The hour-long meeting seemed to provide the answers, or reassurance that answers were being sought, that came from roughly 50 residents in attendance.
• The long-awaited Meadow Pointe Blvd. connector to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is now open, officially. It opened Aug. 30, a week after the meeting, but those in attendance were already told it would only be a matter of days.
The new connection now allows area residents a quick 4- or 5-minute drive to S.R. 56, just east of the Shops at Wiregrass. AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Hospital, I-75 and the Winn-Dixie and Super Target on County Line Rd. also are now a much shorter trip.
Other connections which were planned for years are coming, Vik Bhide, the City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer said, but it may take a while for any of them to open. Other topics of discussion included:
• K-Bar residents still pine for a Kinnan St.-Mansfield Blvd. connection, which is now open only to emergency response vehicles and police. Area residents always bring up the topic, and this meeting was no different. They were told by Viera and Hagan to pin their hopes on the recent primary elections. Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, a strong opponent of the connection, is leaving office, and his anticipated replacement Seth Weightman (the Republican nominee facing only a write-in candidate on Nov. 8) may be more amenable to the idea of opening the connection to all traffic, although that remains an unlikely scenario.
• Street lights may be on the way for Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. past Pride and to entrances at both K-Bar Ranch and Live Oak Preserve. At past meetings, residents have complained that the street is dangerous due to speeders, which is heightened by the lack of lighting. According to Josh Bellotti, the Hillsborough County director of engineering and operations, the county is working closely with Tampa Electric (TECO) and coming up with designs. “A rough estimate is that in about six months, I think you’ll see lights,” Bellotti said.
• It was suggested that the school zone be extended around Pride Elementary, and speed limits in the area be made more uniform. That continues to be studied by the City of Tampa.
• A Hillsborough County traffic study is under way in advance of the possibility of a massive upgrade of Cross Creek Park, which would include an indoor recreation center, updated playgrounds and outdoor basketball courts, a new parking lot and other amenities. The rec center and other amenities, which will cost roughly $8-million, would be built next to Pride, an area of high traffic in the morning and afternoons.
“I want to address the community transportation problem on the front end so we don’t exacerbate it,” said Commissioner Hagan. “This is a real opportunity to improve the current situation.”
