Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Hernando Today > News

Springwood Estates Gets Second Traffic Circle

By MICHAEL D. BATES

Hernando Today

Published: August 26, 2008

SPRING HILL - Residents of Springwood Estates awoke this morning to the sound of workers installing the second of two promised traffic circles on their main drag.
The circle, or "roundabout" as they are also known, is designed to slow down traffic. And that is exactly what residents of this Spring Hill community want to do now that a new Kohl's Department Store-anchored shopping center is perched at their front entrance off Spring Hill Drive, just east of the Suncoast Parkway.
One traffic circle along Spring Park Way has already been installed. This second one is closer to Powell Road. That should be completed in about two weeks, County Engineer Charles Mixson said.
Earlier, the county erected "no through-traffic" signs at both ends of Spring Park Way in an effort to discourage people from using that road as a shortcut to the new shopping center and the parkway.
Another change: Motorists heading north on Spring Park Way – the entrance into Springwood Estates -- can now only turn right on Powell Road.
Last January, when county commissioners agreed to the right-turn only, dozens of Springwood Estates residents clapped their approval.
Kohl's is nearing completion and Target is expected to obtain a building permit soon. The 397,000-square-foot retail complex is located on 53 acres at the southeast corner of the Suncoast Parkway and Spring Hill Drive and is expected to draw shoppers from as far away as Citrus and Pasco counties.
Springwood Estates residents worry that excess traffic congestion will endanger young people who catch school buses along Spring Hill Drive.
Because Spring Park Way is already a major throughway between Powell Road and Spring Hill Drive, residents fear their main drag would turn into a drag way.
The traffic circles, along with the Powell Road turn realignment, a treed buffer along Spring Hill Drive and new sidewalk on the west side of Spring Park Way are expected to cost about $400,000.