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Main Street project may pick up speed

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By CARL ORTH

The Suncoast News

Published: June 7, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Driver safety might take a turn for the better with the addition of a center lane and other improvements to a segment of Main Street.

Motorists traveling to the New Port Richey Post Office have to negotiate the narrow half-mile section of Main Street between Congress Street and Rowan Road.

The city and county are teaming up on the project to widen the lanes from 10 feet to 11 feet, according to a report from Senior Assistant County Attorney Richard R. Vickers. Penny for Pasco sales tax revenue will pay for the upgrades.

The center turn lane will be 13 feet wide, according to Vickers. Curbs, gutters and sidewalks are part of the plan. A drainage system will replace the stormwater ditches.

Before all this can happen, though, Pasco County commissioners had to approve spending roughly $400,000, the estimated total purchase price for the remaining land needed to make room for the wider street, Vickers said.

Commissioners agreed to condemnation procedures to obtain two dozen right-of-way parcels.

The Main Street route study was finished in June 2006, but the project has been on the back burner until the county could acquire the right of way.

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