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Keystone Road widening getting under way

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By MARK SCHANTZ | The Suncoast News

Published: July 22, 2010

Updated:

EAST LAKE - The long-awaited $32 million Keystone Road widening project has begun from U.S. 19 to East Lake Road.

An estimated 34,000 vehicles travel the route each day. When the construction is completed in summer 2013, the traffic capacity of the road will be doubled.

Motorists should prepare for lane shifts and closures during the project, the Pinellas County Public Works Department is warning.

Crews are now trimming trees and other vegetation and relocating power poles and other utility infrastructure to make way for the wider road.

The Keystone Road reconstruction includes widening the 3-mile stretch of the east-west roadway between Tarpon Springs and East Lake from two lanes to four, with a raised, landscaped median.

The wider Keystone Road is being designed to accommodate a possible expansion to six lanes in the future.

In addition to improvements to its vehicle traffic lanes, the Keystone Road corridor is being made more pedestrian-friendly. Sidewalks and bicycle lanes with a connection to the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail will be constructed.

Eight storm water retention ponds, 31 retaining walls and more than six miles of drainage pipes will be installed to control storm water runoff.

Penny for Pinellas funds will account for $25 million of the project's cost. Pinellas County Utilities, Clearwater Gas, Tarpon Springs and Verizon are paying for various infrastructure improvements along the route.

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