All approaches to the traffic signals on S.R. 56 and Mansfield Blvd. now have dual left turn lanes. The under-construction Orlando Health Hospital is seen here in the background.
A major traffic pattern change has just been competed at the intersection of Mansfield Blvd./Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. and S.R. 56, as there are now dual left turn lanes in all directions. This change occurred rather quickly last month and only took a few weeks to finish.
The change was a requirement of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Pasco County permitting conditions for the new Orlando Health Hospital, being constructed at the northeast corner of the intersection. This means that the hospital paid for and completed the work in advance of its anticipated opening, which is still expected to be sometime in 2026.
The change was required to help offset and accommodate the additional traffic the hospital is expected to generate at that intersection, which was laid out in Orlando Health’s traffic study, which was submitted in advance of the project for government review. These operational and safety improvements should keep the signal working efficiently long into the future.
The S.R. 56 intersection with Mansfield/Wiregrass Ranch Blvd.
All of the signals at the intersection had always been designed to accommodate these extra left turn lanes, but they were striped out with paint until needed. The first dual left (from Mansfield Blvd. northbound onto S.R. 56 westbound) was added in 2018 when FDOT contacted Pasco to let the county know that vehicular traffic leaving the schools in the morning was causing backups on Mansfield Blvd., creating a concern — and sometimes long delays — for local residents.
Safety has always been a concern here as well, as there have been multiple serious crashes involving younger drivers making left turns in front of oncoming traffic under the previous permissive left turn signal. Now, with the dual lefts, all left turns are protected, which means left turns are only permitted with a green arrow, greatly reducing the potential for crashes.
There’s also still room to add a third through lane in both the westbound and eastbound directions on S.R. 56 in the striped-out area, when needed.
Meadow Pointe Blvd. Still A Concern
Meanwhile, safety and efficiency are still concerns with the down stream signal at Meadow Pointe Blvd. and S.R. 56.
District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman has said that improvements are coming to this intersection as well, an item that the Board of County Commissioners (BOC) passed in July.
Dual lefts will be added for eastbound traffic on S.R. 56 to turn north onto Meadow Pointe Blvd., which backs up badly during the afternoon rush hour, and dual lefts will be added for northbound traffic on Meadow Pointe Blvd. to turn west onto S.R. 56, which experiences bad back-ups during both the morning and evening rush hours.
Congratulations to the Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation Department, which has now opened Phase 1A of a new $6.7-million multi-phase expansion of Branchton Park at 15508 Morris Bridge Rd., less than a half-mile south of Cross Creek Blvd.
On a frosty cold Jan.23, Hillsborough’s director of Parks & Recreation Rick Valdez, District 2 County Commissioner Ken Hagan, park project manager Jason McKenzie, New Tampa resident and Dist. 4 Comm. Christine Miller’s legislative aide Rico Smith were among those who cut the ribbon on the new 43-acre park.
Valdez said the new park includes a splash pad (which wasn’t yet open, but it was too cold to try that day anyway), a large playground area (with a blue turf facsimile of the Hillsborough River running through it), plus several changing rooms, restrooms and a “Cop Cabin” where Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office (HCS) deputies can have a desk, a lounge (with a working fireplace) and a place to keep an eye on what’s happening in the park.
Also under construction in Phase 1B are six pickleball courts, large- and small-breed dog parks and an additional restroom. Phase 1B is expected to open by no later than March of this year.
Phase 2, which is funded and includes renovations to the original 19-acre Branchton Park, also is expected to include a zipline (in partnership between the county and a private contractor, who has not yet been selected) and an event center. Valdez said Phase 2 will take about two years to build.
“I am thrilled to be here this morning as the commissioner who championed this project for over a decade,” Comm. Hagan said prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony. “How this occurred is that, for six years, I lived around the corner, off Cross Creek Blvd. And every day, I would drive on Morris Bridge Rd., because before we widened Bruce B. Downs (Blvd.), the traffic was terrible.
“So, I’d go down Morris Bridge, and I’d always look over here and see this beautiful area and I would never see more than two or three people on the basketball courts or in the little picnic area. And I just remember thinking that we could really do something special and make a destination here. Well, many years later, we’ve created it [and we] worked closely with the New Tampa community to get the amenities the residents wanted to see here.”
Hagan added, “This park will serve 45,000+ people within a ten-minute drive of this area.”
Although we told you it was getting ready to open last issue, the second Sindbad Tampa restaurant — which features smoothies, juices, crepes, desserts, cakes, ice cream and more — is now open in the former location of Bang-Bang! Bowls in the Pebble Creek Collection (19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Suite C-2).
The original Sindbad location is at 10933 N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, and while the shop has a Middle Eastern-sounding name (Sindbad the Sailor is a fictional character from Baghdad), owners Laith Mahdawe and his wife Raghad Alkalide (who are Middle Eastern; top left photo), say their daughter-in-law, who is Mexican, was the inspiration for Sindbad’s many Mexican and Latin juices and other menu items.
Although the new Sindbad was only open for two weeks at our press time and didn’t yet have all of its menu available, photographer Charmaine George and I definitely were impressed with the store’s incredible array of fresh fruits and veggies (photo below) that Laith and Raghad use to make fresh smoothies and juice drinks. We did also sample a few beverages, including a banana-strawberry smoothie (so fresh!) and a pure watermelon breeze juice served in a half of a small watermelon (Charmaine loved it). Sindbad also features juice drinks specifically created to help with everything from kidney stones to memory loss to indigestion (bottom left photo).
We also enjoyed two dessert items — a slice of chocolate cheesecake with a scoop of fresh Hershey’s strawberry ice cream, and an unexpectedly delicious croissant ice cream sandwich filled with caramel ice cream. Both of the desserts were served with whipped cream and a couple of fresh strawberries. Both Hershey’s ice cream flavors we sampled (there are about a dozen flavors, and soon to also be served with Sindbad waffles), were creamy and tasty.
For more info, visit “Sinbad Tampa” on Facebook or call (813) 443-9692 and please tell Laith and Raghad I sent you! — GN
With pro football’s “Big Game” being played on Sunday, February 16, and the televised “Oscars” broadcast two weeks later — on Sunday, March 2 — we decided to have both our annual FREE “Big Game Squares” contest and our occasional FREE “Oscars” contests be online-only this year, to give everyone an equal chance to enter and win.
To be given a square in our “Big Game Squares” contest, sponsored by Gas N Grills on Livingston Ave., CLICK HERE. Our Grand Prize, for having the winning square representing the final score between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, is a $200 gift card to the restaurant of your choice, anywhere in the Tampa Bay area! The owner of the square representing the score at halftime will win a $100 dining gift card and having the winning squares at the end of the first or third quarters of the “Big Game” will win you a $50 dining gift card. So, CLICK HERE to enter now.
And, with the Oscar winners being announced on March 2, CLICK HERE to enter our 2025 “Oscars Contest,” sponsored by B&B Theatres at The Grove. You will be asked to predict the winners of each major category for a chance to win the Grand Prize of dinner for two, plus top-level movie tickets, popcorn & beverages to a movie at B&B Theatres. There also will be five runners-up who each will receive two free top-level movie tickets at B&B Theatres.
There is no purchase necessary to enter either of these contests, but you will have to provide your real first & last name, the community you live in, your daytime telephone number & your valid email address to enter either contest. For more info, including the official rules of both FREE contests, email us at ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com. Good luck!
In years past, we’ve run either a “Big Game Squares” or an Academy Awards contest — or both — in our New Tampa and Wesley Chapel print editions.
Both contests, especially the Squares, take up a lot of space in our print issues and often would only allow readers in one of our distribution areas to enter that contest by reading our print editions, which always ended up with a lot more entries from that one area, and sometimes, other readers would end up getting shut out of that contest altogether — and that seemed unfair to me.
So, rather than give one group of print edition readers an unfair advantage over the other, I decided that this year, we would offer both of these popular contests online only.
Of course, since the next Wesley Chapel issue won’t hit mailboxes until after the Big Game, only those of you who receive our New Tampa edition are finding out about both contests in print, even though both of them will be posted on our Facebook page no later than Friday, January 31, and we will limit our Squares contest to the first 100 entrants (we allowed 200, or two full “grids,” last year), so it may be too late to enter by the time this issue reaches your mailbox.
Now of course, I know that not everyone has a computer or smart phone to enter online, but surely everyone knows someone who does who could enter for you. To that end, online-only seemed to be the best way to give readers in both distribution areas the same opportunity to enter.
So, here’s how the two contests will work:
‘Big Game Squares’
This has become our second most popular contest, behind our annual Dining Survey & Contest, as even non-football fans usually watch the Big Game — even though some only watch for the commercials and/or halftime shows.
Non-football fans who would never place a bet (legal or otherwise) love the Squares contest because it’s entirely about luck — you either have a square that wins one of our gift card prizes or you don’t. And, since the winning squares are determined by the score at the end of each quarter and can sometimes change at the last possible moment, having a square may be the only thing that keeps non-football-fans watching the Big Game until the very end.
So, CLICK HEREand provide us with your REAL (you’d be surprised how many fake entries we receive in our contests) first AND last name, the community you live in, email address and daytime phone number.
If you give us all of the proper information, you will receive an email from me that says, “Congratulations, you will be assigned a square in this year’s ‘Big Game’ Contest! Once all of our 100 squares have been filled, we will email you again with the score digit for each team that will allow you to WIN!”
For those who don’t know how these Squares contests work, the squares are assigned in the order they are received, but the numbers representing the last digit of the score for each team aren’t randomly assigned until all 100 squares are filled.
Your second email will say, “Your square is KC 7, Phi 6.” That means if the score is 7-6 Chiefs (or 27-26, etc.) at the end of any quarter, you’d win the prize for that quarter — anywhere from a $50 to a $200 gift card to the restaurant of your choice anywhere in the Tampa Bay area. It’s fun and absolutely free — no purchase is ever required to enter any of our contests.
‘Academy Awards Contest’
We’ve only been able to even have this contest a few times in the past because of the timing of when the nominees are announced to when the annual Academy Awards are held.
As devastating as the uncontrolled wild fires in California have been, the fires caused both the announcement of this year’s nominees and the televised red carpet gala itself to be delayed — so much so that we actually have time to have this FREE contest this year as well.
Here’s how it works: Once again, provide us with your REAL first AND last name, the community you live in, email address and daytime phone number. In addition, we ask each entrant in this contest to please pick the winner in each of the following major Oscars categories: 1. Best Picture, 2. Best Actress, 3. Best Actor, 4. Best Supporting Actress, 5. Best Supporting Actor, 6. Best Director & 7. Best Animated Feature.
If only one entrant picks the winners in the most categories, they will win a prize package to the B&B Theatres at The Grove, with movie tickets, popcorn, dinner & drinks, valued at $200.
If more than one entry has the same number of correct picks, the winner will be drawn at random from all tied entries. Each of the other tied entries will receive two B&B movie passes. CLICK HERE to enter.
Silva’s Coffee Grind owners Hiram & Angela Silva invite you to visit their trailer in front of One-Stop Landscape Supply on S.R. 54 for yummy sandwiches like the pastrami & Swiss (below right) or the egg white triple stack (below left). (Photos by Charmaine George)
A few months ago, when we first told you about Hiram and Angela Silva’s new Silva’s Coffee Grind (located in front of One-Stop Landscape Supply on S.R. 54, a little west of Morris Bridge Rd.), Hiram had told us that he was planning to expand his menu, based on his own creativity, as well as on customer requests.
“I’ve always loved to cook,” Hiram says. “I’m just having fun with this menu. Obviously, our kitchen inside the trailer isn’t big, so I’m a little limited, but I’ve already added a couple of new items.”
Hiram says his favorite new item is the egg white triple stack pesto delight (left photo). It offers at least two eggs worth of egg whites, plus juicy turkey, Swiss cheese, fresh green leaf lettuce and Angela’s homemade mayo-pesto spread — and you also can add crispy bacon to it for just $2 more.
My personal favorite new item, however, is the Boar’s Head pastrami & Swiss topped with sauerkraut, pickles and Thousand Island dressing. I had it the way it’s shown here (below right), on three slices of rye toast, but I definitely plan to try it on a sesame or everything bagel next time. It comes with a free bag of chips, too.
As I mentioned in my first “Nibbles & Bytes” item about Silva’s back in October, I definitely felt close to these fellow New Yawkas from the get-go, especially because it was obvious how much care Hiram puts into his food. His fried egg, bacon and American (or Swiss) cheese breakfast “sammie” on a toasted sesame bagel definitely reminds me of home. And yes, Hiram is happy to make your egg sandwich with scrambled eggs or even egg whites and put it on a fresh croissant (Jannah’s favorite).
In addition to the pastrami, I’m also partial to Silva’s turkey pesto BLT and tuna salad sandwiches (the tuna comes with a bag of chips, too).
And, even though I’m mainly a coffee guy — and Silva’s has delicious brewed coffee (available with flavor shots, like vanilla or caramel) — there also are espresso drinks like hot or iced cappuccinos, lattes, mochas and cafe con leches, hot chocolate, a variety of hot or iced teas, lemonade and smoothies made with real fruit purée, creamy smoothies like toasted marshmallow, lavender and pumpkin spice, as well as vanilla, caramel, double mocha or green tea matcha drinks. Mango or strawberry bursting bobas also can be added to your cold beverage or smoothie. There’s even handmade fruit sorbets.
But, the one item I haven’t tried yet that I promise I will sample on my next visit is an espresso affogato, which is two scoops of vanilla ice cream with a double shot of espresso poured over it, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and a sprinkle of cookie crumble. Is it a drink? Is it a dessert? YES!
You also can order a dozen or half-dozen of Silva’s real NY bagels (below) that will be ready for pick-up in 2-3 days. I promise they’re legit — and so are their Silva’s Coffee Grind gift cards!
Silva’s Coffee Grind is located at 34100 S.R. 54 and is open Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed on Sunday. For more information, search “Silvas Coffee Grind” on Facebook or “@ Silvas.coffee. grind” on Instagram. Also, see the ad below for a coupon that gets you 10% off all food and beverages at Silva’s. And please remember to tell Angela and Hiram I sent you!
Angela makes your favorite coffee drinks and also can sell you a Silva’s gift card.
