The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Lutz since 1964 and Pasco since 1981.
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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Congress Street

Pasco County Schools helping Hurricane Michael victims

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Pasco County Schools has given 20 school buses to Bay District Schools and is loaning 20 maintenance employees to that district to help it recover from Hurricane Michael.

David Fussell, of Bay District Schools, was among the bus drivers arriving in Pasco County last week to pick up buses that Pasco County is providing to assist the Bay school district, which is in the midst of recovering from Hurricane Michael. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

Bay County school bus drivers traveled to New Port Richey on Nov. 1, where they picked up the Pasco school district’s buses to drive them back to Bay County, according to a news release from Pasco County Schools.

When the visiting bus drivers arrived at Fred K. Marchman Technical College, they were served lunch by the school’s culinary students. After lunch, they were escorted to the bus barn at Pinehill Road and Congress Street, to pick up the buses to drive back to Bay County. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office escorted the buses to Interstate 75, according to Linda Cobbe, public information officer for Pasco County Schools.

Bus drivers from Bay County District Schools traveled to Pasco County to pick up some buses to take back to their district, which is recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael.

The schedule called for laborers and experts in site development, tree trimming, heavy equipment, electricity, HVAC, carpentry and mechanics to travel from Pasco County, to help Bay County schools to prepare for students in that district to return to school on Nov. 12, the release said.

The Pasco school district crew was scheduled to depart on Nov. 3 at 6:30 a.m., from the Maintenance Department, 11835 Tree Breeze Drive in New Port Richey.

In the news release, Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning said, “I can’t imagine what our colleagues are going through in the Panhandle, and we just wanted to give them the same kind of support I know they would give to us if we were in the same situation.”

Published November 7, 2018

Priorities set for sidewalk and road projects

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Board members of the Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization have adopted a priority list for road projects that is largely unchanged from last year.

But, there is one exception: The list now includes a plan to widen U.S. 301 to a four-lane divided highway from the Hillsborough County line to State Road 56.

The five-year work program runs through fiscal year 2020-2021.

While there’s little change on the road list, the sidewalk list is a different story.

Nine new projects for 5-foot sidewalks are listed as priorities in the 2016-2017 work plan.

Six of those in the top 10 have jumped ahead of other longtime sidewalk requests.

Lutz residents on Leonard Road want sidewalks built along the two-lane road from U.S. 41 to Cot Road as a safety measure. (File Photo)
Lutz residents on Leonard Road want sidewalks built along the two-lane road from U.S. 41 to Cot Road as a safety measure.
(File Photo)

The shift in priorities prompted questions by Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano. Mariano wonders if the ranking system is fair to communities that have waited years for sidewalks.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Mariano at the Sept. 8 board meeting of the MPO.

Among sidewalk projects that Mariano hoped to see higher on the list were Ranch Road, Zimmerman Road and Majestic Boulevard.

Lutz residents also have lobbied over the years for sidewalks on Leonard Road.

That project sits in the 20th slot, near the bottom of 25 proposed projects.

Mariano said he planned to meet with MPO staff members to review the criteria used to rank projects.

MPO Vice Chairman Jeff Starkey also took issue with the criteria.

“What if we don’t agree with how you’re calculating this?” he asked.

The lists of road, transit, multi-use paths and sidewalk projects are updated annually and submitted to the Florida Department of Transportation so they can be considered in FDOT’s five-year work plan for federally funded projects in Pasco.

Sidewalks, multi-use paths and trails are ranked on a point system based on criteria such as speed limits, connectivity to existing sidewalks and trails, accessibility to schools and transit stops, improved mobility in low-income and minority neighborhoods, and the consecutive years a project has been on the list.

Mariano said communities aren’t getting enough credit for time waited. There also are situations, he said, where speed limits might be low, but safety is still an issue for other reasons.

Changes can be made, and projects aren’t automatically done in order of their listing, said James Edwards, the Pasco MPO director.

The availability of money is a factor, he added.

“You don’t follow it in lock step,” Edwards said. “Things will shift around.”

The new sidewalk projects are:

  • Ridge Road/Little Road to Rowan Road
  • Congress Street/north of Lomand Avenue to Ridge Road
  • Old County Road 54/Little Road to State Road 54
  • U.S. 41/Lake Bambi Circle to State Road 52
  • Darlington Road at U.S. 19 to Sunray Drive
  • Fort King Road/17th Street/Morningside to Coleman Avenue
  • Regency Park Boulevard/ U.S. 19 to Cherry Creek Lane
  • Darlington Road/U.S. 19 to Hama Drive
  • 17th Street/Meridian Avenue to County Road 41/Lock Street

For a complete list of the MPO’s 2016 priority projects, visit PascoCountyFl.net.

Published September 14, 2016