Boyette Road Detour Scheduled This Weekend

Be prepared for traffic tie-ups at the intersection of Bell Shoals and Boyette roads as the county detours traffic to accommodate construction at the intersection.

According to Hillsborough County spokesman Steve Valdez, the detour will take place Nov. 16-19.

Valdez said southbound traffic on Bell Shoals will be forced to take a right on Boyette Road at the intersection and then a left onto Deepbrook Drive in Boyette Springs. Deepbrook connects to a new road that doesn't yet have a name. That road will take drivers back to Boyette Road south of Bell Shoals Road. 

"It's all being done to complete the Boyette widening project," said Valdez.

But that's no consolation to the 20,000 drivers who use Boyette Road each day or the dozens of businesses at the intersection who say they're fed up with the construction that's been going on for years.

The 1 1/2-mile section of Boyette from McMullen to Bell Shoals is the final leg in the four laning of Boyette Road, a project that began 10 years ago.

Valdez said construction is on schedule and due to be completed in the April 2014.

In the meantime, traffic is bumper to bumper along Boyette Road and business owners complain that construction is limiting access to their businesses.

"They've been working in front of my shop for three years now," said Steve Dunn, owner of Hit the Trails, 13433 Fishhawk Blvd. "And I'm thinking, when are they ever going to finish this?"

The past three months have been especially hard on businesses at the intersection as the county reroutes traffic off the old road and onto the new.

"My business is way down, about 25 percent, because it's an inconvenience for customers to get in here," said Dunn. "No one wants to come this way anymore. You can’t make a left coming into the shopping center."

Valdez said he sympathizes with the frustration of both business owners and residents.

"It's a big project," he explained. "There are two bridges that have to be built over Bell Creek while maintaining a tremendous volume of traffic on Boyette."

In addition, the county is building a new stormwater system, retention ponds, relocating utilities and adding sidewalks and bike lanes.

Dunn said that doesn't explain why construction equipment sits idle some days.

"I don't understand why they just don't pave it and get on with it," he said. "We've got great weather here. There's no reason they can't work at night. I'm ready to get together a team of people with picks and shovels and finish it for them."