CLEARWATER — Pinellas County will seek nearly $148 million in state and federal grants to widen East Lake Road to six lanes and make safety and emergency-access improvements where it meets Keystone Road.
County commissioners voted unanimously to apply for a $140 million Florida Department of Transportation grant to widen East Lake Road from Curlew Road to Trinity Boulevard, and, in a separate vote, for a $7.96 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant for safety work along Keystone and East Lake roads.
The county’s share would total about $37 million — an estimated $35 million for the widening and $1.99 million for the Keystone Road work. Both matches are expected to come from Penny for Pinellas sales tax revenue.
East Lake Road runs 9.3 miles and has nine signalized intersections, public works staff said. It is a six-lane divided roadway from Curlew Road to Tampa Road, then narrows to four divided lanes from Tampa Road to Trinity Boulevard. The original design north of Tampa Road included a wide median to accommodate future capacity improvements.
“The overall objective of this project is to accommodate current and future traffic, improve traffic operations, and improve safety conditions on East Lake Road,” Public Works Director Kelli Hammer Levy said. The work also would add intersection upgrades and transportation systems management and operations improvements along the corridor, she said.
Those improvements could include intelligent transportation systems, retimed traffic signals to cut delays, stops and vehicle emissions, monitoring cameras, dynamic message signs and real-time data sharing through the Pinellas County Traffic Management Center.
“The preliminary engineering study indicates that the proposed improvements will significantly improve the traffic level of service during peak period, and reduce the number and severity of crashes,” a county staff report said.
The Office of Management and Budget said the project would deliver corridor improvements in capacity, intersection design, safety and multimodal accommodations.
The FDOT money is a multiyear grant that could affect fiscal years 2031 through 2036, according to the staff report. If the county wins the award, the first fiscal impact would likely come in 2031, the budget office said, with a full project budget analysis to follow.
The widening is not in the county’s 2026-2031 Capital Improvement Plan. The segment from south of Curlew Road to north of Trinity Boulevard is scheduled for Penny 5, after the current six-year plan.
The second grant request targets a stretch of Keystone Road that county planners have singled out as unusually dangerous.
“The project will improve emergency access along Keystone Road from the East Lake Fire and Rescue Station 58 to East Lake Road,” a county staff report said. “The project site is identified as being on the High-Injury Network, and defined as a hot spot in the Safe Streets Pinellas Action Plan.”
Two fatalities and 15 crashes have been recorded along that stretch, according to the county.
The project is at 30% design, officials said, and calls for roadway reconfiguration, added and extended left-turn lanes, enhanced pedestrian crossings, improved lighting and updated signal timing.
Specifically, the redesign calls for:
• An additional eastbound left-turn lane and longer left-turn storage on Keystone Road at East Lake Road.
• Longer storage for southbound left-turn lanes on East Lake Road at Keystone Road.
• An additional westbound lane on Keystone Road from Buffalo Avenue to East Lake Road.
• An added eastbound left-turn lane on Keystone Road at Old Keystone Road.
• Improved signal timing, street lighting and crosswalks.
“These improvements have been identified to target a specific crash trend related to severe rear end crashes,” the staff report said. “Over 60% of the fatal and injury crashes at the intersection involve rear-ends, which will be mitigated by these turn-lane and through-lane improvements. These improvements will also address post-crash care concerns, by improving emergency vehicle access to the East Lake Fire and Rescue station, directly east of the intersection in the study area.”