LAND O’ LAKES — Two long-discussed road projects, a Rangeland Boulevard extension in Odessa and the completion of Sunlake Boulevard in Land O’ Lakes, are now in line for state matching money.
The Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization added both to its 2026 Transportation Regional Incentive Program priority list at its Sept. 3 meeting. The program, known as TRIP, is administered by the Florida Department of Transportation and helps pay for regionally significant roads. The state can cover up to 50% of a project’s cost, and the local government must pay the rest.
The Rangeland project is estimated at $77 million, so the county would put up $38.5 million and seek the other $38.5 million through TRIP. The Sunlake project carries a $24.2 million price tag, split into $12.1 million shares. Both estimates include design, right-of-way acquisition and construction.
Neither project is new to county planners.
The Rangeland extension would run 3.4 miles from Cattle Gap Trail to an existing roundabout at Bexley Village Drive, passing beneath the Suncoast Parkway through a new overpass. County officials say the road would help relieve the congestion that clogs State Road 54 daily.
The project came up at County Commission meetings earlier this year and has drawn scrutiny from Bexley residents, including those behind the Keep Bexley Beautiful effort. They have urged the county to choose a design that does not add a traffic signal or on- and off-ramps at the Suncoast.
The county is still collecting public input and will hold a workshop at 5 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Starkey Ranch Theatre Library Cultural Center.
If design, approvals and funding stay on track, construction would begin in 2029.
The Sunlake project would close the last gap in the two-lane, mostly residential road, connecting it from State Road 54 north to State Road 52. The missing stretch, nearly 4.5 miles long, runs from Ridge Road, where the Phase 2 extension is under construction through fall 2027, to Center Village Drive in Angeline.
County officials say the completed road would improve north-south travel and give commuters an alternative to U.S. 41 (Land O’ Lakes Boulevard).
If the Sunlake project stays on schedule, construction would begin in 2028. When finished, the road would run through Angeline, a 6,200-acre planned community expected to eventually house 35,000 residents.