The Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has agreed to a request by the Florida Department of Transportation to merge two transportation projects on U.S. 301, to speed up work on the planned improvement.
Combining two segments of the U.S. 301 roadway widening will allow the state transportation department to meet design-build criteria for the project, which means the project will be built sooner.
The existing project segments are from the Polk County line/County Road 54 to Old Lakeland Highway; and from Old Lakeland Highway to U.S. 301/State Road 53/State Road 39 and State Road 700.
The combined project will extend from the Polk County line/CR 54 to US 301/SR 53/SR 39/SR 700.
The Pasco County MPO approved a change to its Transportation Improvement Plan to accommodate the change during its Jan. 12 meeting. The MPO is the lead transportation organization for Pasco County and includes elected officials from Pasco County, Zephyrhills, Dade City, New Port Richey and Port Richey.
Jensen Hackett, of the Florida Department of Transportation, told the board: “There’s no financial increase for this part of the project in the TIP amendment.”
“These are the two segments that are between the county line of Pasco and Polk County and U.S. 301 and U.S. 98, just to the south side of Dade City.”
Published January 25, 2023
