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New Hess Station Stalled Over Traffic Study Request

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 2, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - The development of a new Hess gas station at the corner of State Road 54 and Eiland Boulevard has stalled while county officials wait for the builder to provide a traffic study.

New Jersey-based Hess submitted plans for its new station nearly a year ago. In February, county officials asked for a traffic study to assess the project's potential impact on the nearby intersection. They're still waiting for that study.

The gas station is slated for the northwest corner of the intersection, which includes Morris Bridge Road to the south. The Hess will be the latest addition to a shopping center that includes The Home Depot and a soon-to-open Publix grocery store.

The project will be one more step in shifting the intersection from a sleepy rural crossroads to a busy outpost of suburbia. Hills' Grocery & Coffee Shop, a longtime Zephyrhills establishment, was demolished recently to make way for a CVS pharmacy.

County road planners have put widening S.R. 54 between Curley Road and Morris Bridge Road on their to-do list for early in the next decade. In advance of that widening, Hess has agreed to set aside land on both the S.R. 54 and Eiland Boulevard sides of its property.

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

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