It’s been 15 years since Hillsborough County took a good hard look at how its roadways can handle the extensive growth of the county.
Officials say the population is approaching 1.59 million this year, and a Florida Department of Transportation estimate says it could hit 2.5 million by 2070.
Now, the county is addressing the issue by holding meetings this month to hear what residents think about its Corridor Preservation Plan Study.
The study is part of Hillsborough County's Comprehensive Plan, which guides future land use and transportation decision-making.
It looks at roadway corridors that are expected to be expanded in the future and the degree to which that might happen.
Christopher Fellerhoff is an executive planner within the county's Community & Infrastructure Planning department.
He said the areas that the county needed to plan for have shifted since the last review, and a lot has changed in the county.
Fellerhoff said building and expanding roads has become increasingly necessary because of that growth.
“We anticipate continued population growth of approximately 2% a year indefinitely going forward,” Fellerhoff said. “So the county continues to grow and grow, and new parts of the county have come under development pressure.”
He added the plan enables property owners and prospective buyers along roadways to look at what might happen in the “near or distant future.”
“That roadway may be widened, and the county may come knocking on the door, saying, ‘we need a little more right of way at the front of your property,’” he said.
Fellerhoff said it's hard to estimate the timeframe of the project just yet. This is because the study only provides a first glimpse of the necessary changes to accommodate growth out to 2070.
The project is due to wrap by September with findings on potential areas of growth. But Fellerhoff said changes certainly won’t happen this year.
“We're not making specific proposals yet,” he said. “Over a long process, [the plan] could ultimately go to the Board of County Commissioners to approve changes.”
The county meetings happening this month are a peek into possible ways to address the kind of growth that allowed the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority to move forward with a $752 million plan to expand infrastructure earlier this month.
Fellerhoff said THEA is a separate agency from Hillsborough County, which manages specific roadways, so the two projects aren't really related.
Still, the county's Community & Infrastructure Planning department accounts for the amount of traffic that is contained within the roadways that THEA manages.
“That certainly informed our analysis in this project,” he said. “We certainly look at potential changes from that.”
There's not really one or two big roadway proposals currently because Fellerhoff said the study is just about potential evolution.
The next meetings will be held on Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library and on July 22 from 6-8 p.m. at the Town 'N Country Regional Public Library.
People unable to attend a meeting can give their feedback online. There, they will have access to the same maps that they would see if they were at the meetings.
And Fellerhoff said it is very important for the county to get public input from both current and prospective residents.
“Some people don't like the idea of expanding the roadways. Some people like to think about other ways of getting around. They can certainly come and voice all those opinions, and we will take note of them,” he said.
