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Dirt Roads' Demise

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: November 22, 2008

DADE CITY - Just a few months ago, Pasco County officials worried they wouldn't have enough money to pave the rest of Tommytown's infamous dirt roads.

But in today's sluggish economy, $13.6 million goes a lot further than it used to.

George Romagnoli, Pasco County's community development manager, got a pleasant surprise when he opened the bids for the Tommytown project. The low bid came in at two-thirds the expected cost.

"We were very surprised," Romagnoli said. "We had heard, anecdotally, that construction companies were really hungry for work, but we didn't know what to expect until we opened the bids."

The contract calls for extensive drainage work in the flood-prone neighborhood just north of Dade City. The county also will pay to install municipal water and sewer lines in the 60-block area before paving the roads.

County officials estimated it would cost more than $15 million to install the infrastructure and pave the roads. This month they awarded a contract for less than $10 million.

"We want to make it a neighborhood people are proud of," Romagnoli said. "We've built or renovated hundreds of houses."

The first phase of the project, which includes drainage and paving the area south of Lock Street, was completed in June. The second phase is considerably larger and more expensive, because it includes more extensive utility work. In addition, the Florida Department of Transportation is kicking in $198,000 to build sidewalks on Lock Street from 21st Street to U.S. 301.

Construction will start Jan. 5 and should last about 18 months. The DOT sidewalk project will get under way just after Thanksgiving.
Marisol Morales, a team coordinator for Farm Workers Self-Help, said the improvements already have made a big difference for Tommytown residents.

"They've been waiting for such a long time," she said.

The neighborhood was developed in the 1920s, when roads were not required to be paved. Over the years, the area has become densely populated and has grown into the county's largest pocket of blight.

The dirt roads give the whole area a musty smell, Morales said. When it rains, the streets turn to mud, and residents deal with constant flooding problems.

"Kids couldn't go out and play," she said. "They couldn't ride their bikes. You couldn't go outside without tracking mud in your house."
Pasco County commissioners also agreed to establish a streetlight district in Tommytown, which has been plagued by crime. TECO will install 111 streetlights in the first phase. Property owners would be charged a $60 annual assessment for the streetlights.

"We've had a couple of homicides here that were out in the open," Morales said. "We really feel like they could have been prevented if there was street lighting."

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844.

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