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Federal Money May Speed Past U.S. 41 Project

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: February 13, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - About halfway between State Roads 54 and 52, U.S. 41 becomes a notorious two-lane bottleneck, just south of Land O' Lakes High School.

Pasco County and state officials repeatedly have put off plans to widen the stretch between Tower Road and Connerton Boulevard because of a lack of funds. Now, with hundreds of million of dollars in federal stimulus money headed for Florida's road network, county officials see a chance to accomplish a long-sought goal.

But there's a hitch.

The state Department of Transportation, which would share the task of widening U.S. 41, won't be ready to start work on the road within the 75-day deadline federal officials have set for spending the first half of the state's stimulus funds, Don Skelton, head of the DOT's Tampa office, told the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization on Thursday morning.

"Things are happening that quickly," Skelton told the MPO, which includes county commissioners and representatives from Pasco's four biggest cities.

"We're being asked to provide a list of projects that are ready to go that we can obligate federal funds for," Skelton said.

The second half of the stimulus funds can be spent within a year of the bill becoming law.

U.S. 41 leads a list of 10 road projects that met federal restrictions to be eligible for stimulus funds. That list included new traffic signals at several intersections near schools in Trinity, Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel, as well as improvements to a number of poorly rated bridges across the county.

Under the first stimulus bill passed by the House of Representatives, Florida stood to get about $1.5 billion in road funds. Of that, Pasco would have gotten $20 million - a far cry from the $1.1 billion to-do list the county compiled when the stimulus package for started taking shape.

The county also could benefit from stimulus funds earmarked for state-level road work, such as the reconfiguring the junction of Interstates 75 and 275, just south of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel.

That junction, which carries thousands of commuters to and from jobs in Tampa, requires dangerous weaving among travel lanes as drivers jockey for a spot in the line to S.R. 56. DOT plans call for dedicated off-ramps on each highway to carry drivers directly to S.R. 56.

A compromise between House and Senate stimulus bills came in lower than the original House bill, leaving the DOT scrambling to determine exactly how much money it will get. County and DOT officials will meet in Tampa today for a four-hour videoconference with federal officials.

Using federal estimates of 35 jobs created for each $1 million spent on roads, county officials estimated the U.S. 41 widening would create 1,172 jobs. Reconfiguring the I-75/275 junction would employ about 1,850 people, by comparison.

Commissioners were visibly disappointed this week when they learned how much they stood to get from federal coffers.

On Thursday, Commissioner Pat Mulieri focused on the bright side.

"We need jobs," Mulieri said. "And this construction can be the catalyst for that."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201.

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