Tropical Acres Estates SR 301 entrance safety

1:59:57All right, thank you. Um I have one item that uh I'm going to present. So we kind of covered the going to Tallahassee meeting. Um yesterday I went to uh tropical acres estates down in uh South 301 on uh in Zephyrhills. At at that uh meeting I spoke with all the residents in the HOA there was a full room.

2:00:29They were very concerned about their entrance and exit on 2301 between 39 and 56. And as I drove down there, I noticed and they had had two or three accidents. One person was killed. Another lady I talked to, her and her husband were in a wreck, and it turned their car upside down. And then another there was another accident or two. And the entrance to tropical acres. uh estates was right across from the new development

2:00:59on the south side of 301. I originally thought that we had already started the construction of Four Lane from 39 back down to 56. I only to find out that hasn't even started, and all these issues are created right here at this entrance to Tropical Acres Estates. Basically, I reached out to uh FDOT on some issues of about when there might possibly be a light. Uh got

2:01:29information it could be up to a year before a light comes and it's gonna be right at their entrance. But in the meantime. They have this issue going on and I'm sure the people across the way probably have a similar issue but a little different because coming out of the property on the south, they're turning right to go into Zephyrhills, which most people from both those areas need to go back toward Zephyrhills if that's where they're wanting to go. But I've uh suggested that possibly

2:02:00we can um make it a right turn only out of uh tropical acre acres estates and put some flashing lights up first and I reached out to F D O T to see if that was possible and they uh Jason was uh under Secretary Gwen mentioned that possibly that could happen within 48 hours or so or so or that as quickly as they possibly could flash lights about cars entering the highway there.

2:02:30'Cause when I came out of that area I can only turn right. There was so much traffic coming right in that area and it's two lane road. And there's so much push from 56 and coming out of Zephyrhills. that by the time it cleared for me actually be able to turn right. There was no way I could go across because the traffic coming to the north on the other side of the road. And there's no place to turn.

2:02:59Yeah.

2:02:59I mean you can't you couldn't make that turn. So right turn only for a temporary time until we can get some kind of uh light system or something set up to help these people. Uh but it's all based on safety. And so the actuality is I'm moving very quickly. I already talked to F D O T force. I reached out to Roy Major with BCS to possibly uh think about some of the issues, even the possibility of them I think there

2:03:29probably goes all the way to Chauncey Road. Maybe there's a road there that will come out on Chauncey and maybe temporarily, if not for the future add a uh connection where they could go on Chauncey Road from that from that park. Um all these things need to be done quickly because again we're talking about safety. Um and I've even I've heard that there possibly could be a temporary light put up But

2:03:59that would take a little time, but I haven't got that answer yet from F D O T. I look forward to hearing that very soon that that we'll be able to do something to help. And the developer across the way, if he was having a turn against traffic to go into Zephyrhills like the other park, they would have been screaming and hollering already and that developer it seems like he's willing to try to push things up to make that light happen sooner. But I made that visit so it um it

2:04:30was worth going to and and they do have some serious issues that we need to direct staff and uh folks to do something about. So I I think everybody's working in the right uh line of thought so we can maybe have some make some make a difference there to help them. Cause like I say the construction for four lanes not even there yet and they've had all these issues and all these wrecks. Imagine what it's like when you're doing construction right there between those two developments.

2:05:01So uh it's helping a lot of citizens right there south of Jeffrey Hills. If y'all remember an MPO, we had talked about Uh City of Zephyrhills wanted to change their movement of their traffic in the streets in Zephyrhills to make it move faster. But I kept speaking out against that and I think y'all were along with me. The fact of it is If it moves faster through zero fields, you still have this block right here in this two-lane

2:05:31area where I'm talking about between fifty six and thirty-nine, that's still an issue. This needs to be fixed before we make faster faster traffic come on through from Zephyr. So

2:05:44I I drove that a few months ago so I know

2:05:46you remember stuff. And and that's and this is the reason why. This I didn't realize how bad that it was at that time, but a person's already lost their life here. And we don't want anybody else to have issues like that. So but very important. So for these people. So yeah. And all of our citizens are important. Take care of these issues.

2:06:09Mr. Chairman

2:06:10Mariano.

2:06:12My understanding next week is Pasco Day in the legislature. And uh I'm very pleased and proud that my Legislative Day policy will be representing me up there, uh lobbying for Pasco County. So

2:06:31Thank you.