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After more than a decade of trying, business leaders and elected officials hope to jumpstart the stalled Ridge Road extension project.
Donna Cardellino, a real estate agent with Florida Luxury Realty, has been rallying supporters to help persuade the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to give the project a hearing.
"We're a couple hundred strong in 48 hours," Cardellino said Wednesday after supporters circulated emails and exchanged phone calls.
Pasco County officials long have argued the road is needed as an evacuation route in the event of a hurricane or other disaster.
Cardellino believes the road could boost the local economy as well.
The Corps of Engineers must grant a permit to cross wetlands and other environmentally sensitive lands if the road is to be built from DeCubellis Road-Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway.
A second phase could extend the road farther east to U.S. 41.
The Suncoast Parkway, which opened in 2001, was built to accommodate a Ridge Road interchange.
Citizens for Sanity and other environmental activists, however, have long opposed the Ridge Road extension.
For the full article, visit the Tampa Tribune.
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