U.S. 19 Construction Project Curbing Local Business
The multimillion-dollar, multi-year overpass project has been costly to merchants located along the construction corridor. A phase to add the overpass lanes at Gulf to Bay Boulevard starts Monday and is expected to last through July.
If you polled the average Clearwater citizen, most would probably agree that the latest streamlining of U.S. 19, which encompasses a 2.7-mile stretch from Gulf to Bay to Whitney Road, is a necessary byproduct of the massive increase in traffic in Pinellas County over the past 20 years. But if you ask some of the merchants whose livelihood depends on visibility and accessibility in that area, they will tell you the project, which began in November 2009 and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2014, has been a financial nightmare. A phase to add overpass lanes at Gulf to Bay Boulevard starts Monday and is expected to last through July. Traffic will converge into two lanes between Seville Boulevard and Drew Street. Clearwater Patch…
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Sara Melone
10:15 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Merrill is correct! I have been here in Fl. since 1971 and NOTHING has changed in the way the DOT "accomplishes" their projects. It is politics as usual. Before the project is near completion it will be obsolete. They probably use the cheapest materials (cut corners) so they will always have a reason to be "fixing" something they should've done right to begin with. That's how you keep union … more ›