MPO freight‑plan Phase Two set to return with recommendations after needs analysis

Consultants updating Pasco County's freight plan delivered an interim needs analysis to the MPO, and said they will return with specific recommendations and an implementation strategy before the end of the fiscal year.

Rob Kery, vice president with the consultant team, said Phase Two refines where trucks are generated and attracted, overlays congestion and crash data, and identifies freight activity centers and ready sites. The study flags state corridors such as State Road 52, US 301 and US 19 as high‑truck facilities and maps bottlenecks that could be addressed through operational changes, capacity improvements or policy updates.

Kery said the study will emphasize low‑cost opportunities to incorporate freight‑friendly designs into already‑programmed projects (FDOT and local CIP projects) and will propose non‑programmed infrastructure, secondary‑network upgrades and policy changes such as freight review requirements in development approvals. The consultant also plans to outline truck‑parking needs and to propose a county freight network hierarchy (connectors, secondary and primary freight routes) to guide planning and development reviews.

The MPO asked questions about rail spurs and how new industrial customers could be served; Kery said new spurs should be coordinated through the county economic development group and CSX, and confirmed that several private spurs are already in planning in the Zephyrhills/Luchi areas. The consultant will return with prioritized projects and a short/medium/long‑term implementation schedule, categorizing each recommendation as low, medium or high cost to help MPO programming decisions.