VALRICO - Stuck in snarled traffic on Bell Shoals Road repeatedly tests the patience of Darlene Chartier as she slowly makes her way south to her job in Sun City Center.
"What used to take me 20 to 30 minutes a few years ago now takes at least an hour," said Chartier, whose home backs up to the major north-south thoroughfare that serves an average of more than 22,000 vehicles every day, according to Hillsborough County statistics.
Officials told residents at an Oct. 23 town hall meeting that the $65-million plan to widen Bell Shoals Road between Bloomingdale Avenue and Boyette Road will bring relief to drivers who have seen traffic grow more congested in recent years.
The route has long generated a high number of cars because it abuts several subdivisions. The addition of Newland Communities' FishHawk Ranch master planned community southeast of the Boyette/Bell Shoals intersection drew even more traffic to the road.
Now plans call for widening a 3.1-mile stretch of Bell Shoals Road between Bloomingdale Avenue and Boyette Road from a two-lane roadway to a divided four-lane road separated by a raised and landscaped median.
Additionally, a bicycle lane and sidewalk will be added in each direction; the bridge spanning the Alafia River on BellShoals will be widened; the traffic signals at Glenhaven Drive, Rosemead Lane and Bloomingdale Avenue will be upgraded; and officials will install a new traffic light at Starwood Avenue.
Storm drainage improvements also are planned.
The crowded townhall session at Bloomingdale High School drew close to 200 people who perused several stations with maps and other information.
The project is scheduled to get underway by year's end and be completed in 2022.
Chartier simply hopes the county follows through after hearing about other improvements that never came to fruition.
"In the meeting I went to back in 2013 they said they were going to start the project right away," she said. "When that didn't happen it really made me angry."
A presentation by project manager Thomas Rawls helped ease Chartier's mind.
"This project has been in the works for about 15 years, but the difference today is that most of the right-of-way land has been acquired," he said.
The $65 million cost for the project includes $5 million for the design, $20 million for land acquisition and $40 million for construction.
FishHawk Ranch developer Newland Communities will pay for the design and a portion of the construction fees, while Hillsborough County will fund the remaining construction and other costs.
Bloom Hill resident Tom Dye welcomes the improvements.
"I normally don't leave during the rush hour because I work out of my house," he said. "But when I do, I just say, 'Wow.' The traffic on Bell Shoals is incredible."
Bloomingdale East homeowners Rick and Julie Kokoszka are generally pleased with the Bell Shoals widening plans.
However, they're a bit skeptical about the projected timeline.
"I've been hearing about this project for at least the last five years and it hasn't happened yet," Rick Kokoszka said. "I hope this time it will, but I think it'll take longer than four years."
On the other hand, the timeline wasn't a major concern to Hilary Eklund, a 16-year resident of Indian Hills subdivision.
Instead, she was disturbed to learn the project will result in a right-turn-only access onto Bell Shoals Road from Tomahawk Trail, the main entrance/exit way in and out of her neighborhood consisting of 63 homes on the south side of the community.
"Instead we'll have to make a right and then quickly cross over two lanes of fast moving traffic to get into the left lane to make a U-turn going towards Brandon, where the hospital and so many other things are," she said.
Eklund contrasted the situation to plans for Arrowhead Lane on the north end of the subdivision. Officials plan to allow left turns from that street onto Bell Shoals Road, even though, Eklund said, it the residents of just 14 homes.
"That issue really concerns me," she said.
Contact Joyce McKenzie at hillsnews@tampabay.com.