The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Curley Road

Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation opens

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Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation had its first opening day of school, ever, ushering in a host of programs aimed to prepare students for myriad technical and professional careers.

Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, the newest school in Pasco County Schools, welcomed its inaugural crop of 570 freshmen and sophomores on the first day of school, Aug. 10. The school’s official address is 32555 Innovation Way. It’s where Curley Road meets Innovation Way, in Wesley Chapel. (Fred Bellet)

Some of those work opportunities already exist.

Others are expected to emerge in the future.

In either case, this high school will provide a broad array of opportunities for students, offering technical training, as well as opportunities for advanced placement, dual enrollment and general classroom work.

The school, at 32555 Innovation Drive, is located at the intersection where Curley Road meets Innovation Way, in Wesley Chapel.

The magnet school represents the first technical school of its type on the eastern side of the county.

Housed in a building that has a modernistic architectural design, the school’s programs include: applied cybersecurity and computer science, automotive maintenance and light repair; diesel maintenance; biomedical sciences; building trades and construction technology; digital media and multimedia; applied engineering, robotics; welding technology; patient care technician; and, electricity.

The school opened with 570 freshmen and sophomores, but will add additional grades to create a school for ninth- through 12th-graders.

Students will be able to earn standard diplomas and industry certifications, as well as take Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment courses.

The school doesn’t have sports teams, but students will be able to play for the schools in which they are zoned.

The school will have clubs, with specifics determined by school and staff.

Published August 17, 2022

The school’s initials — KRAI — are on bold display on a base outside the main entrance of Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation. Meanwhile, in the background, students are heading to classes on the school’s second floor.
Students arrive for the first day of classes in the inaugural school year at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation. The magnet school is beginning with just freshmen and sophomores, and will add grade levels to become a school for ninth- through 12th-graders.
Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation Principal Dee Dee Johnson greets students as they arrive for the first day of school. She also waves to cars near the drop-off point.
Fourteen-year-old Urijah Naughton, left, Pasco County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Mobley, 14-year-old Jayden Rivera and 14-year-old Joshua Barnes pause on their way to class, for the students to have their picture taken with Mobley, the new school’s resource officer.
Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning stands near rows of cameras, tripods and accessories in the Digital Media Multimedia Design class at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation. Browning took a brief tour of the school on opening day of the 2022-2023 school year in Pasco County Schools.
Jennifer Schwiegart, a learning design specialist at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, helps 16-year-old Malachi Miller find his classroom on a school map.

Changes recommended in Villages of Pasadena Hills

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The Pasco County Planning Commission favors changes to the county’s land use plan, to allow greater flexibility within two villages in the Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH).

The planning board voted unanimously at its July 7 meeting to recommend approval of the request to the Pasco County Commission, which has final jurisdiction.

Initially, the request had been on the board’s consent agenda, meaning it would be approved as part of a bundle of items without discussion, unless someone objected or had questions.

Planning Commissioner Jonathan Moody asked for the item to be pulled so he could learn more about the request.

The Villages of Pasadena Hills is a special planning area, with its own financial plan.

The district was formed with the aim of creating an orderly way to develop a large area of land in East Pasco, through the creation of a series of specific types of villages.

The proposed changes would apply to Village L and Village M, which are east of Curley Road and north of the Zephyrhills Bypass, according to a memo in the planning board’s agenda packet.

The purpose of the amendment is to provide greater flexibility in the land use mix within each of the villages, and allow more opportunity for more compact areas of development in and around village centers, the memo says. The amendment is necessary to achieve the proposed density for Village L and Village M that is assumed in VOPH’s financial plan.

The current Type 3 Village requirements also would effectively prohibit the build-out of the two villages to their planned density and frustrate the ability to design the villages in accordance to the land use vision plan, the memo adds.

Attorney Clarke Hobby, representing the applicant, told the planning board: “The only reason this plan amendment is before you is when we started working on this project, we realized that we think there was an error in the village typology,” he said.

A Type 3 Village requires a neighborhood edge, which is not more than two units per on 70% of the entire village, Hobby said.

That limitation would result in being able to achieve roughly 40% less than the village entitlements, which amounts to about 1,800 units, Hobby said.

“That’s about a $20 million hit on the VOPH financial plan,” the attorney estimated.

The change that’s being requested would “keep the same entitlements, but allow us to have a more neighborhood general, neighborhood core area as opposed to just a sprawling area of not more than two units per acre, which is not efficient,” Hobby said.

There was no other public comment at the meeting.

The land use change is the first part of the process. The land also would need to be rezoned before it could be developed. A rezoning request is being pursued for the designation of a  master-planned unit development.

Published August 03, 2022

Mixed-use project approved in Connected City

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The Pasco County Commission has approved a mixed-use development made up of 525 residences and 106,285 square feet of office uses on 158 acres, in an area known as Connected City.

The site, which is currently vacant and used for agricultural purposes, is at the northeast corner of Elam and Kenton roads, about 6,600 feet east of Interstate 75.

The Connected City corridor consists of about 7,800 acres in a state-approved development district meant to foster residential communities and employment centers that are the wave of the future. Its borders are Interstate 75, State Road 52, and Curley and Overpass roads.

The area is meant to feature cutting-edge technology, including gigabit Internet speeds and innovation.

The rezoning had been recommended for approval, with conditions, by the Pasco County Planning Commission and county planners.

The approved residences are expected to consist of a mix of single-family detached, attached and/or multifamily, courtyard houses, row houses, townhouses and possibly garden-style apartments.

This particular area of Connected City is known as the Community Hub, which is intended to be used for projects that create a blend of employment and housing opportunities, according to Clarke Hobby, the attorney for the applicant.

That portion of the plan requires medium density standards of 3.25 residences per acre.

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative owns 12.18 acres of the site.

Hobby noted that extensive efforts have been made to mitigate impacts on neighbors, including a series of private agreements relating to trees, landscaping and buffering.

Eight of the 10 neighbors signed letters of no objection.

Michael Pultorak, who lives on Kenton Road, expressed concerns about the potential for area flooding, if the water levels rise in King Lake.

Pultorak told the board that he’s pro-development and pro-responsible growth, but he is concerned about potential flooding in the area.

He said he realized that this particular project may not cause the potential flooding he’s concerned about, but said the next one could.

He asked the board to intervene to prevent that from happening.

Commissioner Mike Moore told Pultorak he would make sure that someone would be out to meet Pultorak for a closer look at the issue.

Board members voted 4-0 to grant the rezoning, with Commissioner Ron Oakley, absent.

Published June 01, 2022

Mixed-use project proposed in Connected City

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval of a maximum of 525 residences and 106,285 square feet of office uses on a site of approximately 158 acres, in an area known as Connected City.

The Connected City corridor consists of about 7,800 acres in a state-approved development district meant to foster residential communities and employment centers that are the wave of the future. Its borders are Interstate 75, State Road 52, and Curley and Overpass roads.

The area is meant to feature cutting-edge technology, including gigabit Internet speeds and innovation.

The proposed project, which gained the planning board’s recommendation for approval on April 21, is at the northeast corner of Elam and Kenton roads, about 6,600 feet east of Interstate 75. The site is currently vacant and used for agricultural pursuits.

The proposed 525 residences may consist of a mix of single-family detached, attached and/or multifamily, courtyard houses, row houses, townhouses and possibly garden-style apartments, Tammy Snyder, a Pasco County planner told the planning board.

This portion of Connected City requires medium density standards of 3.25 residence per acre. There’s also a maximum number of single-family residences allowed in this part of Connected City. Thus, the proposed project is limited to 192 single-family residences, according to Brad Tippin, the county’s development review manager.

Also, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative owns 12.18 acres of this site.

Clarke Hobby, an attorney representing the applicants, said the request involves a site within Connected City’s Community Hub Zone.

“The overall intent of the Community Hub is to create mixed-use projects that create a blend of employment and mixed-use housing opportunities.

“As we go from over on Curley (Road) with the lowest densities and moving to the west, we are approaching the business core zone, and staff thinks that the best planning objectives are not only to phase out having single-family, as was mentioned, but to get to a higher density as you approach that area.

“The Business Core Zone, which is kind of the southern area of Pasco Town Center, that’s going to be a very intense and dense form of development down in that area. So, staff wants to make sure these areas are working together,” Hobby said.

By contrast, the developments of Epperson and Mirada are located in other areas of Connected City that specifically allow for lower density of development.

As part of the current proposed mixed-use project, Hobby said, “we’re building the first segment of Kenton Road. We’re having to acquire right of way from third parties for it, and we’re dedicating right of way. We’re going to be redesigning the intersection of Elam Road and Kenton Road to address an existing offset that staff identified, and it’s a fairly extensive amount of work and background work that had to go into making that happen.”

Efforts made to limit impacts
Hobby also noted that extensive work has been done to mitigate impacts on neighbors.

“Having grown up in Dade City, I fully realize that this is a very rural area, traditionally. And so we knew this was going to be one of the sites that our neighbors were going to be very concerned about the form of development and changes over time.

“So, we’ve had a series of meetings with them, and my client literally has spent the better part of the last week out there meeting … and trying to make everyone happy.

“We have a series of private agreements with them that relate to trees that we’re going to save on our property line, that provide nice buffering for them, some additional tree mitigation that we’re going to do on our site and then some landscaping things that we’re doing for our neighbors,” he said.

He provided letters of “no objection” for the record from eight of the 10 neighbors.

“We are, as staff noted, providing a service-ready site at the corner of Elam and Kenton, and working with our neighbor, Withlacoochee Electric River Cooperative, on that, and anticipate having a really nice use there. We’ve got some intel from them about what’s probably going to go there and I think everyone will be happy with the job creating uses there.

“We’ve also given extensive thought to the cross connections with the MPUD (master-planned unit development) that’s directly to our east and southeast. We have a lot of interconnections between that and the various parcels on our site, to ensure the connected in Connected City is being met.

“The result of all of this is that we have a really nice mixed-use development, with great interconnectivity, employment and housing options.

“So, I think we’re hitting all of the requirements of Connected City,” Hobby said.

Michael Pultorak, who lives on Kenton Road, expressed concerns about the potential for area flooding, if the water levels rise in King Lake.

“I am pro-growth. I am pro responsible growth. I am pro responsible development,” Pultorak said.

However, he added: “The problem is, since 2009, the water is up almost 8 feet.

“My 4-foot cattle fences are completely underwater during the rainy season, and the best I can do during the dry season is see the tops of them.

“We used to have land that exceeded 250 feet past those cattle fences.

“I have lost over 700 feet of land, linear, since 2009,” he said.

Pultorak said area residents told him there used to be three outlets for the lake and now that’s down to one, which is across Kenton Road.

“I’m pro-development. I’m pro-growth. But please don’t do it on the backs of the current residents and property owners that are trying to keep this as our homesteads and provide agricultural supplies and services and resources for the entire area,” he said.

Hobby said he’s also aware that some neighbors simply want to retain the area’s historically rural nature.

“Connected City was adopted some years ago. It was a legislative change from the state and the county is implementing it. This area is not going to stay rural much longer. It’s just not going to,” Hobby said.

“What we’re trying to do is be a good neighbor and provide good buffering where we can, to fulfill the Connected City goals, while not overwhelming our neighbors,” the attorney said.

Published May 04, 2022

Improvements on Curley expected to be finished by summer

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Developers are engaged in a number of projects along Curley Road, with work expected to be completed by the summer, according to information provided by the engineering services team of Pasco County.

Crews divert traffic as roadwork continues, south of the Epperson development on Curley Road. (Fred Bellet)

Here’s a synopsis of the work involved:

Curley Road, from north of Overpass Road to Tyndall Road:

  • Repaving
  • Curb installation
  • Roundabouts installed at Curley Road and Elam Road, and Kiefer Road and Ibis Grove Boulevard
  • Turn lanes installed along Curley Road onto Avery Scope View; at Turtle Grace Loop/Rockfleet Drive; at Innovation Drive/Ivy Stark Boulevard
  • Left-turn lane installed along Curley Road, northbound onto Tyndall Road
  • Signal installed at Innovation Drive/Ivy Stark Boulevard
Motorists will find several roundabouts along the northern area of Curley Road.

Curley Road, from south of Overpass Road (where south Infinite Drive will eventually intersect with Curley Road) to about 1,000 feet north of Overpass Road:

  • Widening to four lanes
  • Roundabouts installed at Curley Road and future Infinite Drive; Curley Road and future Victory Crossing Drive
  • Dual left-turn lanes and single right-turn lanes from Curley Road onto Overpass Road, in both directions

A multi-use path also is being installed from the roundabout south of Overpass Road to Tyndall Road. The path will run along the east side of Curley Road, from the future Infinite Drive to Elam Road, and then switch over to the west side of Curley Road, from Elam Road to Tyndall Road. And the project includes a sidewalk on the west side of Curley Road from Overpass Road to Elam Road.

Pasco County will be reimbursing developers for the four-lane widening and the two roundabouts at Curley Road and Infinite Drive; and Curley Road and Victory Crossing Drive, estimated at roughly $6.5 million.

Published April 13, 2022

State Road 52 has new path in East Pasco

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Construction crews have been working on a project that will widen and realign State Road 52, from Uradco Place to Fort King Road, in eastern Pasco County.

‘Road Closed’ barricades block both sides of the new stretch of State Road 52 that runs through San Antonio, at Curley Road. (Fred Bellet)

Between Uradco Place and Bayou Branch Canal, the existing road will be widened into a four-lane divided highway, according to a project description on the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 7 website.

Then, east of Bayou Branch Canal, the new alignment will be a four-lane divided State Road 52 — built south of the existing State Road 52 and tying into Clinton Avenue.

Then, Clinton Avenue between County Road 579 and Fort King Road will be widened into a four-lane divided road.

Clinton Avenue, between Pasadena Avenue and U.S. 301, will become part of the new State Road 52.

The section of existing State Road 52, between Bayou Branch Canal and U.S. 301, will be designated County Road 52, after the construction of the new State Road 52 is completed.

The $81.5 million project began in November 2019 and construction is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024.

The website notes: “Daily lane closures and flagging operations are likely throughout the construction area on numerous roads including but not limited to State Road 52, Curley Road, McCabe Road, Prospect Road and Clinton Avenue. Motorists should use caution and be prepared to stop when necessary.”

The contractor performing the work is Superior Construction Company Southeast LLC.

Published February 16, 2022

A displaced street sign lies in the sand at McKendree Road, awaiting its new location.
A flatbed trailer with heavy equipment crosses the intersection of State Road 52 and the newly striped McKendree Road.
Crews work along the new State Road 52, on a stretch between Curley Road to the west and Prospect Road to the east. Motorists will have a grand view looking west toward San Antonio and Interstate 75.
The east-west sidewalk on the south side of Clinton Avenue is temporarily closed, during construction.
From the crest of the hill at Williams Cemetery Road and Prospect Road, new light poles tower above the new State Road 52 intersection.

Work is moving ahead on area road projects

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Construction has restarted on a widening project on State Road 54, from east of Curley Road to east of Morris Bridge Road.

Cone & Graham has been awarded the contract to complete the project.

It began work on Jan. 10. Activities in the first few weeks will involve cleanup, surveying, and other tasks needed to safely resume construction, according to the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 7 website.

The $42.5 million project involves widening the existing two-lane road to a four-lane road with medians, the website says. A sidewalk will be built on the north side of the road and a 10-foot wide multi-use trail will be built on the south side.

The work stopped after the original project contractor notified FDOT on July 28, 2021, that it was stopping work on the project. The FDOT declared that contractor in default on Aug. 3.

FDOT projects have contract bonds issued by a surety company, which is a contract requirement. The surety company was required to obtain a completion contractor, which is Cone & Graham.

In other transportation-related news, a 4.2-mile section of the Ridge Road extension is now open, from Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway.

The other two lanes of the initial segment are expected to be finished later this year, and the second leg of the extension will extend the road to U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes.

That is expected to be completed in 2025, but could be done sooner if efforts by Pasco County leaders to seek $14 million in state funding during this legislative session are successful.

During the county board’s Jan. 11 meeting, Commissioner Mike Moore told his colleagues that he’d been up to Tallahassee to advocate for support for the funding and said he would be making another trip there to continue the push.

At the same meeting, County Administrator Dan Biles told the board that the northbound ramps onto Ridge Road should be open in February.

“We’re working on getting some equipment in place. As soon as the southbound ramps were open, we wanted traffic on it. So, that’s why there’s a different timeline for both of those,” he said.

He expects that segment of the road project to be completed in either late summer or the fall.

Biles said he hopes the county will be able to go out to bid for the extension over to U.S. 41 later this year.

However, Biles noted: “That will depend on whether or not we get part of the legislative ask, to help accelerate that piece.”

Published January 26, 2022

Pasco County Schools continue to add more school choices

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The Pasco County School Board recently approved the conversion of two existing elementary schools into Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) magnet schools.

The board voted on Dec. 14 to shift the boundaries for Centennial Elementary School, in Dade City and for Marlowe Elementary School in New Port Richey into the boundaries of nearby schools.

The conversion to the new approach to learning will take place beginning in the fall of the 2022-2023 school year.

A new 6-12 STEAM magnet school is expected to open in the fall of 2023, near Moffitt Cancer Center’s planned Pasco campus. The acronym STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

Centennial Elementary will provide a convenient option for students and families in East Pasco, to explore the same educational opportunities as those offered at Sanders Elementary STEAM Magnet School, in Land O’ Lakes. Marlowe will do the same in West Pasco.

Sanders recently received national recognition for the quality of its programs.

Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, under construction on Curley Road in East Pasco, will open during the fall of the 2022-2023 school year.

The school is expected to have an enrollment of 1,000 students and its programs will include digital technology, engineering, biomedical science, transportation and building technology.

The 104-acre school site is about 3 miles due east of Interstate 75.

A number of career and technical education labs are planned, including those designed for digital media, engineering robotics, biomedical and patient care.

Automotive, diesel, welding, construction, electrical and cybersecurity programs are planned, as well. The diesel program will be one of just a few in Florida.

The school district also is expected to open a new 6-12 STEAM magnet program in Land O’ Lakes, near Moffitt Cancer Center’s planned Pasco County campus.

School district and Moffitt officials are already in discussion regarding the vast potential for unique learning opportunities for students who will be attending that school.

The school, which is expected to open in the fall of 2023, is planned on an 18.8-acre site within Angeline, south of State Road 52, north of the future Ridge Road extension and west of Sunlake Boulevard, according to Ajax’s website.

These schools are just a few of the educational options that Pasco parents can choose for their students.

Those wishing to know more can visit the school district’s website to peruse the Pasco Schools Pathways school choice catalog to find out more about program offerings.

The window for applications opens at 8 a.m. on Jan. 6 and closes on Jan. 20 at 4:30 p.m.

Window for school choice opens Jan. 6
The application window for Pasco Pathways School Choice opens on Jan. 6 at 8 a.m. and closes on Jan. 20, at 4:30 p.m.

This will be the only application window for all grade levels, and it will be for all school choice options, including STEM and STEAM magnet schools, Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, Wendell Krinn Technical High School, International Baccalaureate (IB), and the Cambridge Programme.

The Pasco Pathways Innovative Programs and School Choice application will be available for parents via the myStudent parent portal. Parents who don’t already have an account may establish a myStudent account by clicking on the myStudent link.

Go the Pasco County Schools website to find out more. The school district’s website is www.pasco.k12.fl.us/

Published December 29, 2021

State Road 54 work expected to resume this month

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Work on a project to widen State Road 54 — from Curley Road to Morris Bridge Road — is expected to resume on Dec. 20, according to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Seven Secretary David Gwynn.

Gwynn recently updated the board of the Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization regarding the status of three construction projects that were stalled this summer, when the contractor handling the work defaulted.

“It was the end of July when DAB  (Contractors) defaulted, more or less put us on notice that they were not financially able to continue to complete the projects,” Gwynn said.

The FDOT notified the surety, which provides the bond on the project, that is responsible for bringing in a replacement contractor to complete the work.

It typically takes two to four months to bring a replacement contractor on board, Gwynn said.

In addition to the State Road 54 project, work also was stopped on the diverging diamond interchange project at State Road 56 and Interstate 75; and on the State Road 52 project, on State Road 52, from the Suncoast Parkway to U.S. 41, including a portion of U.S. 41.

Work has resumed on the diverging diamond project, with Superior Construction handling the job. That’s the same company that’s building the realignment of State Road 52 in East Pasco.

“They jumped onto the diverging diamond. One thing they just recently did, it wasn’t really required of them in the contract, but for the Christmas holiday season, opened up an additional lane on State Road 56 to try to help with the merchants in the area and be able to provide a little better service during the shopping season,” Gwynn said.

The contractor expects to have the new configuration completed by summer 2022, Gwynn said.

The State Road 52 project is being handled by a company called PCS (previously known as Pepper). The work has begun, but there’s still about two years left on that project, the FDOT officials said.

“The one that’s given us the most challenge has been State Road 54, for a variety of reasons,” he said.

That work will be completed by Cone & Graham, which is the company that is building the county’s Ridge Road project and that built the State Road 56 extension, Gwynn said.

Gwynn also noted there are some traffic issues at the new leg of an intersection at Meadow Pointe Boulevard and State Road 54, which has to do with an equipment issue. He said that is expected to be corrected in coming weeks.

The Pasco MPO — made up of representatives of Pasco County, Dade City, Zephyrhills, Port Richey and New Port Richey — is the lead transportation planning agency in Pasco County.

Published December 15, 2021

Pasco officials: Open Ridge Road extension ASAP

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Pasco County officials are pushing to open the Ridge Road extension to the Suncoast Parkway interchange, as soon as the road is ready.

But Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano said that Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise may want to delay the opening.

“They may not have the tolling equipment in place. They may hold back, opening the road,” Mariano told his colleagues, during the board’s Nov. 9 meeting.

“If they don’t have the toll stuff on the roads ready, I think you guys agree, we should just open the road. Let the people start traveling. It’s the people’s money that built it, one way or the other, anyway. Let’s get it going,” Mariano said.

Commissioner Mike Moore agreed, putting it this way: “We need to open this, in the first of December. If they want to continue with holding this up, I will be out there with an orange vest and a flag. And, I’m the last person they want to see on that road, directing traffic every day.”

County Administrator Dan Biles told the board there are efforts underway to persuade Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise to change its position.

“The road is on the verge of being ready for traffic. We expect sometime in the next 30 days, the road — to include the interchange at the Suncoast (Parkway) — to be ready for traffic,” Biles said.

That would extend Ridge Road from Moon Lake Road all of the way to the Suncoast Parkway interchange.

“The one thing holding up finishing it up is the tolling equipment on the north side of Ridge Road —not, on the south side, because there’s a gantry on the south between Ridge and (State Road) 54, that already exists, already tolls at $1.07 a passenger vehicle.

“That tolling equipment (on the north side) may not be in until sometime next spring,” Biles said.

“Right now, the tolling authority is saying, ‘Hey, we want to wait until that’s in, to open it.’”

But Biles said the county’s position is and has been: “No. The second we can put traffic on Ridge Road and the interchange, we need to put traffic on Ridge Road and the interchange.

“Once it’s ready, it should be opened,” Biles reiterated. “It’s an immediate traffic reliever.”

If discussions don’t resolve the issue, the board authorized Commission Chairman Ron Oakley to write a letter to the Turnpike Enterprise, and others that he and Biles identify, to try to get the road opened as soon as possible.

In a related note, Moore told his colleagues that he has requested Rep. Ardian Zika and State Sen. Ed Hooper to  file a state appropriation request for $14 million to support phase two of the Ridge Road extension over to U.S. 41.

Both legislators have agreed to seek the funding, Moore said, which would speed completion of that segment.

“Hopefully, we’ll be hearing some good news, during the (legislative) session,” Moore said.

In other area roadwork news, the construction company Cone & Graham is expected in coming weeks to begin doing the completion work on a widening project on State Road 54, from Curley Road to Morris Bridge Road, according to an update from the District Seven office of the Florida Department of Transportation.

The construction company also will be doing work for Pasco County, at Eiland Boulevard, according to the information from FDOT.

Construction work on the widening of State Road 54 was halted by the previous construction company and the surety company is responsible for bringing the work to completion through a conclusion contractor.

Published Nov. 24, 2021