After almost two years 24th Street, the connector road from S.R. 674 to Shell Point Road E., is still closed. It is a direct path to Lennard High School and HCC’s SouthShore Campus. Chere Simmons photos.
Driving by the barricades keeping cars off 24th Street in Ruskin, you can’t see any reason not to use the road. Everything looks clear, ready to go.
That’s because it is.
So why then are the barricades still up after almost two years?
“It was a requirement of the developer in that area to build and repair the roads when they build structures,” said Mike Williams, Hillsborough County’s director of planning and development. “But the developer turned it over to home builders, and the county isn’t privy to their agreement. Amazon is only a part of that parcel. It goes all the way to [S.R.] 674.”
The area of land in the agreement extends (north-south) from Ruskin’s 19th Avenue to S.R. 674 in Sun City Center and (east-west) from Interstate 75 to the railroad tracks that cross 19th Avenue just west of the SouthShore Regional Library.
“The original landowners sold the parcel to developers in several different pieces,” Williams said. “The home builders didn’t like the road work that was being done and fired the contractor. That held up the land being turned back over to the county.”
Until the land is turned over to the county, it’s still private property and drivers can’t use it.
The parcel includes both commercial and residential property, and roads had to be built for both as part of the agreement.
“It’s not all the developer’s fault,” Williams said.
John Gallo of Ruskin is one of many residents who doesn’t care about who is at fault; he just wants to see the work completed and the road ready to use.
Gallo, like other Ruskin residents, also questions why the 2nd Street bridge in Ruskin can’t be used.
“These inconveniences wouldn’t be tolerated in Sun City Center or any other affluent area of the county,” Gallo said. “The county holds public meetings and focus groups about these projects downtown at difficult times. I’ve been asked by a contractor to attend a focus group at the same time as one is being held on another project. Are they serious? It seems to me if they cared about valid feedback, they would schedule a meeting at the annex on 30th Street [in Ruskin].”
Since the majority of people in Sun City Center — a 55-and-up community — are retired, that makes it easier for them to attend and protest the things they object to in their neighborhoods, he explained.
The 2nd Street bridge in Ruskin is now open to pedestrians.
The 2nd Street bridge has been closed almost as long as 24th Street, with detour signs diverting vehicles to cross at U.S. 41 instead.
Both James Hudock, director of the technical services division of the county’s public works department, and Parker Hirons, director of land development for Lennar Central Florida, responded to questions about these projects.
“Twenty-fourth Street is substantially completed but there are a few final touches that still need to be done,” Hirons said. “The land that the road is on is privately owned, and the deeds are being presented and transferred over to Hillsborough County. Once the county has the deeds and owns the land, the road can be opened. We expect that it will be opened fairly quickly now.”
Meanwhile, Hudock explained that the 2nd Street bridge, which is approximately 50 years old, would take longer because it was still in the evaluation stage.
“At this time, county staff is working with outside consultants and continuing to evaluate a number of different repair and replacement options,” Hudock said. “All of the current options being evaluated, however, will require additional funding for design and construction that is not currently programmed in our current budget. We’re hopeful that we will have a recommendation on moving forward soon.”
An engineering review of the bridge condition determined that the bridge requires major rehabilitation or replacement in order to reopen the bridge to vehicle traffic.
Options being analyzed include a major rehabilitation to replace the failed steel sheet pile abutment walls or complete replacement of the bridge.
The option to permanently close the bridge is also being contemplated due to the short detour length of less than three-quarters of a mile, low vehicle traffic of fewer than 550 vehicles per day, and high replacement cost.
The cost to rehabilitate or replace the bridge is estimated between $800,000 – $1.7 million.
Meanwhile the 2nd Street bridge is open to pedestrians.
