Opinion
Long delay
TBO.com
Published: August 1, 2012
It has now been 12 years since Pasco County first asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue a permit that would allow the construction of the Ridge Road extension. It has long been apparent that if Corps of Engineers officials have their way, the permit application will still be twisting in the wind a dozen years hence.Published: August 1, 2012
That fact was once again made painfully clear last week, when Pasco County officials received a letter from the Corps of Engineers asking the county to analyze possible alternatives to the Ridge Road extension. As Chief Assistant Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker noted in response to the Corps of Engineers' request, the county has already conducted alternative route analyses "four or five times."
In case anyone has forgotten, the Ridge Road extension is four lanes of asphalt that would run from the road's current eastern terminus, at the point where Decubellis Road becomes Moon Lake Road, and the Suncoast Parkway toll road. It would improve the area's normal traffic flow and provide a third major west-to-east evacuation route.
If the Corps of Engineers believes, as opponents of the Ridge Road extension charge, the road would cause significant environmental damage and harm wildlife, then it should reject the permit. Instead, it obviously hopes the continuing stall will spur frustrated Pasco County officials to withdraw the permit application. Even after 12 years, however, Pasco officials don't seem ready to throw in the towel and may not oblige.