From State Road 33 in Mascotte to U.S. Highway 301 in Hernando County sits the only section of State Road 50 that isn’t four lanes and isn’t scheduled to be widened.
Bansen was the main speaker at a public meeting that drew about 60 people to the Mascotte Civic Center on Tuesday. The meeting was the public’s first opportunity to see the various options being studied for the road. For presenters, it was the first opportunity to gather feedback.
Todd Davis, a consultant on the project, made it clear officials are “assuming no solutions” at this point.
“We’re looking at any and all alternatives,” he said.
The most expensive and time consuming of the alternatives is to make the entire 20-mile stretch four lanes, but Bansen said current traffic volume does not justify this. Some less drastic changes — making the road three lanes or adding roundabouts or realignments — might be able to serve the stretch through the year 2040, he said.
Mascotte Mayor Barbara Krull didn’t think three lanes — meaning the addition of a passing lane — would be enough to serve the extra traffic that will come with the 27,000 new homes that were approved for the area.
“By the time you finish three lanes, you’ll need four,” she said.
Making SR 50 four lanes from SR 33 to County Road 469 is an option that’s still on the table, according to Benson.
Roundabouts are being considered because there is an FDOT policy demanding they be considered as an alternative to traffic lights. Intersections under consideration for that treatment include Tuscanooga Road and North Bay Lake Road in Lake County and CR 469 in Sumter County.
Roundabouts appeared to be the least popular option at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I’ve been in roundabouts all over the country and in Canada,” John Grady, of Webster, said. “They’re a pain in the butt.”
Reginald Powers, of Mascotte, pointed out that the road could be made safer in places simply by having better signage.
“There’s a lot of safety hazards, particularly for night driving,” he said. “You have dirt roads going into SR 50. You should have reflective signage you could see with your headlights, telling you what roads are coming up.”
The next step in the study is to incorporate feedback from the public and produce a planning report. For more information, go to www.cflroads.com.