TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Have Gunn, Can't Travel

TRIBUNE PHOTO CANDACE C. MUNDY

Construction continues on the widening of Gunn Hwy. to help ease traffic congestion. The 11.6 million dollar project is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2009. Traffic moves through the interection of Gunn Hwy. south of S. Mobley Rd. near Sickles High School as work crews work on the widening. TRIBUNE PHOTO CANDACE C. MUNDY

ADVERTISEMENT

By B.C. MANION

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

CITRUS PARK - A steady beep-beep-beep fills the air as men in fluorescent lime and orange construction vests maneuver front-end loaders, compactors and graders in a massive project to resolve a traffic bottleneck on a stretch of Gunn Highway.

The $11.6 million project is roughly a mile long, beginning just south of Hixon Road (at Sheldon Road) and extending up Gunn to just north of South Mobley Road.

The work will improve traffic in an area that has been a choke point for years, said Steve Valdez, a spokesman for Hillsborough County's public works department.

The crews, from Cone & Graham Inc. of Tampa, got the go-ahead to begin the project in June 2007.

The county had expected the project to be done by this fall, but officials now think the work will be done by this spring.

"We're off pace a little bit," said Maize Monroe, a project manager for Hillsborough County. "We had some difficulties with the utilities."

The corridor is narrow, and there are so many utilities serving it; it was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle to sort it all out, Valdez said. The challenge delayed the project and increased its costs.

Traffic figures for that section of Gunn show that it is used by 24,000 cars, trucks and buses a day.

It is heavily traveled because there are so many destinations nearby, including Westfield Citrus Park mall, Sickles High School, the Veterans Expressway and nearby businesses and subdivisions, Valdez said.

The project's completion can't happen soon enough for employees of several businesses along that segment of Gunn.

The construction has taken a toll on the Walgreens at 7925 Gunn Highway, store manager Mary Napolitano said.

"It has affected our business negatively almost every single day," she said.

"People just don't want to fight the traffic," she said, noting most of the store's customers drive south from Odessa.

Left turns are not allowed into the north entrance of the strip center where the Walgreens is located.

When construction began, left turns were allowed, Valdez said. But it soon became evident that wouldn't work. All it took was one car turning left to back up traffic for a mile, he explained.

On the bright side, once the heavy equipment is gone and the orange and white barricades are hauled away, business at her shop will pick up, Napolitano said.

"When they're done with the project, it's going to be great for us," she said.

Sickles High is directly across the street from the construction activity near Gunn and Ehrlich Road.

Hilda Genco, an assistant principal at Sickles, said the construction near the school requires everyone to be more careful.

School officials recommend that when fall classes begin, people coming to the school should give themselves more time in the morning to avoid the traffic bottleneck.

Front office staff members at Ehrlich Animal Hospital, 8009 Gunn Highway, said they're tired of the construction hassles.

"The traffic up front has been terrible," said Roxanne Pagan, a receptionist at the animal hospital.

Normally, she would turn left to go home, but it's so hard to get out that she often is forced to turn right, go to a nearby gas station and then double back.

"It's a nuisance - when you really just want to go home," Pagan said.

The project has also created a drainage issue near the animal hospital's entrance, said Lauren Roberts, another receptionist.

"It never used to flood like that," she said.

The business's telephones also were recently knocked out, Roberts said.

The construction company blamed the telephone company, and the telephone company blamed the construction company, Roberts said.

Losing telephone service is a problem, Roberts said. "That really does affect the business."

Katherine Gleeson, a veterinarian technician and manager, complained about construction equipment blocking her view when she is trying to get out of the parking lot.

Alice Winning, a greeter at the office, put it bluntly: "It stinks."

Her white car is constantly getting dirty. "My car is black - and it's supposed to be white," Winning said.

Trula Clarke, supervisor of nurses at Dr. Robert Norman Dermatology, 8002 Gunn Highway, said it's a pain to get out of the parking lot.

"You sit and you sit and you sit and you sit - just waiting to get out, and it's awful.

"When school is in session, it's twice as bad."

There have been other inconveniences, too.

"For a while we were losing power all of the time. We were losing our telephones," Clarke said.

That hasn't been a problem in the past few months.

In the end, she thinks area traffic will move smoother.

"I think it's going to be a blessing when it's all done," Clarke said.

Aurora Ortiz of 8001 Beaty Grove Drive had to give up a chunk of her property for the road project. But she understands the need for the widening.

"Gunn Highway is very busy," she said.

The constant beeping from construction equipment is annoying, though, she said.

Monroe said the county can't do anything about the beeping. Federal law requires backup alarms on the equipment to prevent injuries to workers.

Carol Spurr, owner of Citrus Park Landscape Nursery, is unperturbed by the project.

She's taking the long view:

"I just know it's going to be beneficial in the end," Spurr said. "It's going to be beautiful."

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 865-1507 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT