HOT CORNER – TURNPIKE | Sound Offs

(Re Wednesday, May 25’s front-page story, “BOCC rejects Citrus turnpike routes”): I hate to burst the commissioners’ bubble, but I don’t think anybody in FDOT was waiting for the commissioners’ opinion of turnpike extensions.
The Florida Turnpike Enterprise should have detailed and projected the Northern Turnpike Extension many years ago if Citrus County was on a projected route to U.S. 19. The homework for the Suncoast Parkway was done and I have a county map printed in 2001 by Map Source Inc. of St. Petersburg showing the proposed route of the Suncoast Parkway and 13 miles have been accomplished with 13 miles remaining. Commissioner and Dr. Kinnard should be commended for his suggestion that the resolution only refers to the turnpike through Citrus County.
OK, state of Florida, if you want the Florida Turnpike extended north, maybe make the move from Plan A in 1988 that was scrubbed by some little birds in the Goethe Forest back again to Plan A. I can hear them chirping. Distance from Wildwood to Lebanon Station, as the birds fly, is 49 miles.