[Altavia]

430132-1 US 301 (SR 35) from CR 470 to SR 44

FDOT will hold a project open house about the proposed widening of U.S. 301 (State Road 35) from County Road 470 to Florida’s Turnpike on Thursday, February 20.

The open house will be held in person from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Trinity Baptist Church, 3027 U.S. 301, Wildwood, FL 34785. Attendees will have an opportunity to view a looping presentation and project displays, speak with project team members, and submit comments or questions.

To provide additional flexibility for stakeholders, the FDOT is also offering online opportunities to get involved:

* Join an online webinar at 5:30 p.m. to watch a project presentation and submit written questions or comments using the webinar questions box. To attend using this option, register at Registration. Please make sure to provide adequate time to log in to view the presentation in its entirety.

* View the project video and other materials on this webpage anytime beginning February 20 and provide comments and questions directly to the project manager by using the button on the right side of this page. While the information will remain on the website throughout the project, please provide comments or questions by March 3, 2025, to have the comments included in the open house record.

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[Altavia]

Project Description

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is improving U.S. 301 (State Road (S.R.) 35) from County Road (C.R.) 470 to Florida’s Turnpike in Sumter County.

FDOT plans to widen this portion of U.S. 301 to provide two travel lanes in each direction, separated by a raised median.

The project is divided into three segments:

Segment 1 (FPID 430132-2) from County Road (C.R.) 470 to Industrial Park Drive;

Segment 2 (FPID 430132-4) is a realignment of U.S. 301 from Industrial Park Drive to Warm
Springs Avenue; and

Segment 3 (FPID 430132 -5) from Warm Springs Avenue to Florida’s Turnpike.

In addition to widening, the project includes adding a shared-use path, installing traffic signals at Industrial Park Drive and Warm Springs Avenue, and building a roundabout at Marsh Bend Trail.

Right of way acquisition on the project is underway. Construction on the first segment (430132-4) is expected to begin in early 2026.

[Bill14564]

Thank you for the information.

But I wonder:
- Does it truly stop at the Turnpike? If so, the two northbound lanes will still have to merge into a single lane from the Turnpike to Clay Drain Rd.

- The two new signals at the Turnpike seem to be the cause of the major congestion today. Widening after the signals going south will do nothing for the southbound congestion that backs up onto 44 and widening coming north will just allow the congestion to build faster. Will this project actually help at all?

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Thank you for the information.

But I wonder:
- Does it truly stop at the Turnpike? If so, the two northbound lanes will still have to merge into a single lane from the Turnpike to Clay Drain Rd.

- The two new signals at the Turnpike seem to be the cause of the major congestion today. Widening after the signals going south will do nothing for the southbound congestion that backs up onto 44 and widening coming north will just allow the congestion to build faster. Will this project actually help at all?

Suspect they're waiting for the Turnpike design completion. Still a few years before that 301 segment starts.

Earlier studies showed widening all the way to 44 and were leaning towards a diverging diamond interchange at the Turnpike.

Lots of detail here:

https://www.cflroads.com/project-fil...g%20Report.pdf

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Altavia

Suspect they're waiting for the Turnpike design completion. Still a few years before that 301 segment starts.

Earlier studies showed widening all the way to 44 and were leaning towards a diverging diamond interchange at the Turnpike.

Lots of detail here:

https://www.cflroads.com/project-fil...g%20Report.pdf

Great! What better way to deal with the impact of signals that stop the flow of traffic than by modifying the intersection to entirely remove the possibility of traffic flow down 301. With the diverging-diamond intersection, either northbound 301 traffic flows OR southbound 301 traffic flows but NEVER BOTH and generally, NO 301 traffic flows. That design prioritizes traffic exiting the Turnpike at the expense of traffic traveling on 301.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Great! What better way to deal with the impact of signals that stop the flow of traffic than by modifying the intersection to entirely remove the possibility of traffic flow down 301. With the diverging-diamond intersection, either northbound 301 traffic flows OR southbound 301 traffic flows but NEVER BOTH and generally, NO 301 traffic flows. That design prioritizes traffic exiting the Turnpike at the expense of traffic traveling on 301.

Agree, seems 301 traffic flow should get priority.

Diverging diamonds can be confusing due to criss-crossing over to the wrong of the road under the bridge.

[vintageogauge]

And they'l continue to route thousands of cars detouring off of I-75 every time there is an accident and they happen quite frequently. That is going to be a real mess during construction until it is completed and that most likely will not happen as scheduled.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

And they'l continue to route thousands of cars detouring off of I-75 every time there is an accident and they happen quite frequently. That is going to be a real mess during construction until it is completed and that most likely will not happen as scheduled.

Yep! Going to be a rough 3-5 years given I75 and the Turnpike Expansion projects will all be taking place simultaneously with 301 widening.

Gonna need a Jetson flying car to get anywhere ;-)

[CybrSage]

Good, something needs to be done about the horrific traffic on that road.