Plan Your Weekend For SR 56 Disruptions

S.R. 56 will be closed to all traffic at I-75 from 11 p.m. Saturday, April 30 to late afternoon on Sunday, May 1 as crews prepare to place the interchange into the new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) traffic pattern.

No traffic will be allowed to travel through the work zone across I-75. S.R. 56 traffic will be detoured a variety of ways:

Eastbound SR 56: Eastbound S.R. 56 traffic will be detoured to the northeast on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (C.R. 54) to Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., then south on BBD back to S.R. 56. Additionally, the right turn lanes on the south side of S.R. 56 at Grand Cypress Blvd. onto eastbound SR 56 will be closed and the left turn lanes at Grand Cypress Blvd. on the north side of SR 56 will be closed to prevent travel onto EB SR 56. The eastbound S.R. 56 ramp onto southbound I-75 will be open; any traffic traveling on eastbound SR 56 past Grand Cypress Blvd. will be forced to enter southbound I-75.

Westbound SR 56: Westbound S.R. 56 traffic wanting to cross I-75 will be directed north on BBD to SR 54, then southwest on C.R. 54 (Wesley Chapel Blvd.) to S.R. 56.  Any westbound S.R. 56 traffic between BBD and Cypress Ridge Blvd. will be directed to U-Turn at Cypress Ridge Blvd. to head back east on S.R. 56 to BBD and follow the remainder of the route outlined above.

Access to I-75: Available at the S.R. 54/CR 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd. interchange north of S.R. 56 or BBD interchange south of S.R. 56. The only access to I-75 will be from eastbound S.R. 56 onto southbound I-75.

Northbound I-275 and northbound I-75 to SR 56: Access will only be open onto eastbound S.R. 56. The northbound I-275 (Exit 59) and northbound I-75 (Exit 275) exit ramps to westbound S.R. 56 will be closed. Drivers wanting to go west on S.R. 56 will continue north past S.R. 56 and use I-75 Exit 279 to SR 54/CR 54. At the bottom of the ramp, turn left and go southwest on Wesley Chapel Boulevard/C.R. 54 to S.R. 56 and S.R. 54, west of I-75.

FDOT says to expect periodic backups. on the Exit 279 ramp to westbound C.R. 54 (Wesley Chapel Blvd.), so northbound I-75 drivers wanting to go west of I-75 on S.R. 56 might consider using Exit 270 (the New Tampa exit) to BBD and continue traveling north on BBD to SR 54/CR 54 (Wesley Chapel Blvd.) or take alternate east to west routes.

Southbound I-75 to SR 56:

  • Detour Route to S.R. 56, east of I-75: Use Exit 279 to S.R. 54/C.R. 54. At the bottom of the ramp, turn left and go east on S.R. 54. Turn right onto BBD and go south to SR 56.
  • Detour Route to S.R. 56, west of I-75: Use Exit 279 to S.R. 54/C.R. 54. At the bottom of the ramp, turn right and go southwest on Wesley Chapel Boulevard/C.R. 54 to SR 56.

When the traffic pattern switches to the DDI on May 1st, it will not be at full-capacity until closer to project completion (summer 2022) as the contractor will have additional work to do to open an additional through-lane on both eastbound and westbound S.R. 56 and an additional turn lane from the northbound exit ramp onto westbound S.R. 56.

During the above closure period, two ramps will be available to use at the I-75/S.R. 56 interchange: the eastbound S.R. 56 entrance ramp onto southbound I-75 and the northbound I-275/I-75 exit ramps onto eastbound S.R. 56. All other traffic wishing to use the I-75 / SR 56 interchange will be directed via detour signage to use the I-75 interchange at SR 54/CR 54.

Brookron Dr. Gets Resurfaced

Brookron Dr. in New Tampa, once seemingly held together by a never-ending series of potholes patches, has a new surface.

Hillsborough County had all but completed the $686,841 project at our press time. The one-mile circular local road, located off Cross Creek Blvd. (across from the entrance to Cory Lake Isles) and winding past the communities of Pinehurst, Magnolia Trace, Meadow Creek and Creekwood to Kinnan St. in the Cross Creek development, had fallen into disrepair in recent years.

The project was originally expected to start later this year and finish in 2020.

The 18-year-old road is used by most of the Cross Creek II community’s 1,236 households, as well as by residents of the adjacent Addison Park and Andover Place apartment communities.

“They just showed up to fix it; it was very nice,” says Jo-Ann Pilawski, the head of property management for the Cross Creek II community. 

In 2017, Pinehurst resident Sasenarine Persaud emailed county commissioners and the Neighborhood News to express disappointment that the county had approved $250,000 towards building an unplanned Kinnan St.-Mansfield Blvd. connector, while just a mile south was a busy road Persaud said was in “third-world condition” and “a motley (collection) of patches, ridges and depressions, with a new pothole opening every week.”

Due in part to the complaints of Persaud and Pilawski, as well as a handful of others, the county sent an engineer to do a full inspection of the road. 

County commissioner Ken Hagan, who at the time held a District 5 county-wise seat but now represents New Tampa in District 2, was aware of the problem, as a former resident of Creekwood who had driven the road many times. 

Although Brookron Dr. had been on the unfunded project list — meaning the 50 or so potholes repairs applied over the years would have to hold it together until at least 2021 or ‘22 — Hagan worked to get the road reclassified from a local to a connector road, and got it funded for fiscal year 2019.

Workers spent the month of August repaving the road. Also included in the work were ramp improvements for those with disabilities, and pedestrian improvements at the light at the intersection of Brookron Rd. and Cross Creek Blvd.

Pilawski, who says the county always promptly repaired any potholes she reported, praised Hillsborough’s efforts.

“I am really impressed with the response you get from the county,” she says. “I think they really do a good job. I’ve always found that to be the case. I don’t know if it’s because I complain so much, but they always respond.”