Corps Extends Comment Period for Controversial Ridge Road Extension

Regulators pondering a permit for a controversial extension of Ridge Road that would slice through a sprawling wilderness preserve gave the public another month to air views on the project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended the deadline for public comments about the Ridge Road Extension project until Jan. 27. The original deadline was Dec. 28.

The large number of comments and requests for more time prompted the later deadline, the Corps said in a news release.

The project would eventually push Ridge Road from where it now ends at Decubellis and Moon Lake roads east to the Suncoast Expressway and then to U.S. 41 at Connerton Boulevard. It would open another east-west route across Pasco County linking U.S. 19 and U.S. 41.

The Corps is reviewing the road’s impact on wetlands as part of an extensive permit process. The agency cannot approve a project unless it determines the work is in the public’s interest and offsets damage to waterways and wetlands.

Though Pasco County officials looked at a dozen alternate ways to improve routes for people to move east or west across the county, the main paths go from the end of Ridge Road to the expressway through the Seranova Tract of the Starkey Wilderness Preserve that covers 18,0000 acres.

The route would impact about 59 acres of wetlands, the Corps says, mainly in the 6,500-acre Seranova tract. Of those 59 acres, cypress and wet prairie wetlands combine to make up 25 acres.

About 2.5 miles of the eight-mile road would go through Seranova, and the county altered the road design, such as reducing the median from 60 feet wide to 40 feet through part of the preserve, to reduce the acreage of wetlands affected.

This isn’t a new project. Pasco has worked on the route since submitting a plan in 1998 to the Corps, then revising the details as the agency asked for changes and more details.

As Pasco County officials envision, the first extension to the expressway would create another Suncoast Expressway interchange between state roads 52 and 54. Looking to 2035, county planners expect Pasco roadways will need another eight to 14 lanes of asphalt connecting U.S. 19 and 41.

But the Seranova tract sits on the west side of the expressway and is part of a preserve that forms a larger network of wetlands under control of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The Seranova wetlands combine with others in the Starkey preserve to create a 6,000-acre wetland ecosystem, the district says on its website.

Opponents point to the wetland damage and potential harm a highway through a nature preserve could cause.

The county has proposed buying wetlands in other areas to make up for any the road would destroy. The county proposes preserving habitat near River Road, and in one of these three other sites: Crockett Lake, the Starkey Ranch or 4G Ranch that is east of U.S. 41.

In addition to meeting transportation needs, the county also says the road is needed to help move people out of harm’s way if a hurricane threatens the region.

There are limited paths for people to move away from the coast if an evacuation is ordered and more than 200,000 people try to escape a major hurricane. Also, the State Road 54 evacuation route will have to accommodate evacuees fleeing northern Pinellas.

The road has supporters, including commercial realtor Donna Cardellino who said in an email the road would spur economic growth along the Suncoast,  U.S. 19 and 41 as well as provide construction jobs.

Also, the wetlands impacted by the road would account for about .5 of a percent of acreage around the road, wrote Cardellino.

People can send comments by email to Project Manager, Tracy Hurst, at Tracy.E.Hurst@usace.army.mil or by fax at (813) 769-7061. Questions can be directed to Hurst at (813) 769-7063.

You can also mail comments to the district engineer at: 10117 Princess Palm Ave., Suite 120, Tampa, FL 33610.