By now, anyone who regularly drives the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) at S.R. 56 or the new Overpass Rd. exit at I-75 has to recognize that these transportation improvements have helped relieve traffic in the Wesley Chapel area.
And, with new lanes now open eastbound and opening soon westbound on S.R. 54 between Curley Rd. and Morris Bridge Rd., it appears that Wesley Chapel’s biggest traffic problems are continuing to improve.
Even so, I still hear (and see on Facebook) lots of complaints about our traffic issues and the amount of money that is or isn’t being spent to do something about fixing them.
Does $836 million in state transportation improvements sound like nothing has been done?
Almost $530 million of that total has been spent since 2002 on a wide variety of transportation capacity projects serving Wesley Chapel’s 33543, 33544 & 33545 zip codes — and that amount doesn’t include the hundreds of millions more that Pasco and the developers of Wesley Chapel-based communities have spent to improve the roads in and around all of our area’s new subdivisions. Even so, another nearly $187 million of the remaining $300+ million is what has been spent improving the state-owned roadways in New Tampa (nearly $187 million; see below). The remaining $94.5 million has been spent in San Antonio, just north of Wesley Chapel.
Thanks to our new editorial research contributor (and new local Realtor with Florida Executive Realty) Joel Provenzano, who previously worked for the Florida Department of Transportation (aka FDOT), I am proud to be able to break down just the state funds that have been spent to make traffic less of a nightmare for those of us who live and/or work in and around New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
I do realize that, with the continued explosion of new homes and businesses in our area, more money will need to be spent to keep our area from turning into another Dale Mabry Hwy. or Brandon Blvd. I, for one, however, am happy to not be sitting in traffic as often as I was before all of these improvements were made.
Check Out Our Online Ads!
Over the past few years, as online advertising has infiltrated pretty much every part of our lives, we have had just a couple of online ads on our website — NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net.
But, as the number of visits to our site has grown exponentially the last 2-3 years, I have always wanted to offer local businesses the opportunity to place ads on our site — which now averages 30,000 visits every month — I just wasn’t sure what to charge for those ads.
Well, those rates are now set and the first of those online ads are now up on our site.
So, whether you want to supplement your print ads or advertise with us online only, call (813) 910-2575 or email ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com.
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