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Ridge Road To Get Lion's Share Of DOT's $53.7M For Pasco

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - The Department of Transportation plans to spend $53.7 million in Pasco County next year, the bulk of it on four-laning the eastern end of Ridge Road.

State transportation officials were scheduled to reveal their proposed five-year transportation budget for Pasco at 10 a.m. today, when the county's metropolitan planning organization was to meet at the historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City.

The planning organization plots out transportation projects countywide. Members include the five county commissions and the mayor of each of the county's four cities.

The plan includes money for road construction in New Port Richey, airport maintenance in Zephyrhills and railroad preservation in Lacoochee.

The first phase of the plan starts next July.

The single largest expense next year will be $38 million to widen Ridge Road between Little Road and Moon Lake Road. That heavily traveled portion of Ridge Road provides the only access for the main campus of Pasco-Hernando Community College, aircraft parts maker Pall Aeropower and the neighborhood of Hidden Lake.

The 2010 work schedule also includes $6.2 million for repaving about 14.5 miles of Interstate 75 from County Road 52 in Wesley Chapel to the Hernando County line.

Also in the work plan for next year is $2.2 million to install street lights on the northern end of U.S. 19 between Denton Avenue and the Hernando County line.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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