The connected city projected is not only bringing fast internet and Crystal Lagoons (see pgs. 1 & 4) to Wesley Chapel, it will also result in some local road improvements, as the county preps for additional traffic in the future.
A 2005 route study that recommended widening Curley Rd. (C.R. 577) is getting a re-evaluation, due to development in the area that is expected to increase traffic. Curley Rd. makes up the connected city’s western border.
Also, Clinton Ave. is being extended to the west and will become the new re-aligned S.R. 52, which runs along the connected city’s northern border in San Antonio.
A steady crowd (photo) showed up to participate in the route study re-evaluation Open House held Dec. 6 at Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church Parish Center in San Antonio.
Local residents were allowed to view the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) plans for east-west re-aligning of S.R. 52, which is expected to begin in June of 2019.
The county hopes to complete its right-of-way acquisitions by the spring of 2019.
The Curley Rd. project itself is even further off. While minor improvements will be made where Curley connects with the realigned S.R. 52, right now, it is unlikely anything will be done with widening it or re-routing where it connects with Prospect Rd. (579A) before 2030.
“Because of connected city (east of Curley)and the Villages of Pasadena (a development on the west side of Curley Rd.), things have changed,’’ said Panos Kontses, project manager for the Pasco County Engineering Services Department. “What we analyzed then has changed, so we are doing a refreshing of the study.”
The study is looking at widening Curley Rd. from two to four lanes (from one lane in each direction to two lanes in each direction) from north of the Wesley Chapel schools on Wells Rd. to north of the S.R. 52 re-alignment.
The road would have one sidewalk, and a 46-foot grass median that could allow for the expansion of the road to six total lanes.
Also presented at the open house were three alternatives for a Curley Rd.-Prospect Rd. intersection, north of Tyndall Rd.
Prospect Rd. is an east-west road that curves north before ending at Curley (after Curley curves west).
New plans call for extending Prospect west to Curley, where the two roads will intersect. But, Prospect will become Mirada Blvd. and run northwest through another connected city/Crystal Lagoon development called Mirada.
Residents were asked to weigh in on three options: a single signalized intersection, a roundabout with right turn bypass lanes or two signalized offset “T” intersections for the Curley Rd./Mirada Blvd./Prospect Rd. intersection.
According to traffic studies, Curley Rd. currently handles roughly 7,200 vehicles a day, but by 2041 is projected to have 21,000 vehicles traveling on it each day.
Likewise, Prospect Rd. is expected to increase from 6,200 to 15,100, and once the intersection is complete, Mirada Blvd. will be handling 11,900 vehicles daily.
“It is a ways off,” Kontses said. “All we’re doing right now are the planning studies. We don’t (currently) have the funding for design or construction of this project.”
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