KEYSTONE, Fla. — Kim Davis rarely misses a chance to stroll with her fellow neighbors and affable bichon frisé, Oscar.
“We walk most every morning,” she said as she held the fluffy white dog in her arms. "He loves it. He walks or rides. One or the other.”
But, as they walk their neighborhood streets in the Keystone-Odessa community — located in the northwest corner of Hillsborough County — there’s an area they avoid: North Mobley Road near Walker Middle Magnet IB World School.
“North Mobley can be very bad,” Davis said. “It’s just a bad situation. I’ve lived in other cities, and the fact that the school is right on a pretty major street seems to be a problem.”
Davis said the school car lines from Walker and the adjacent Hammond Elementary School choke Mobley all the way to the nearby Gunn Highway almost every school day.
The gridlock blocks driveways, causes road rage and makes people like Davis late for appointments.
“I actually have a little chart on my counter that lets me know what time the elementary school lets out and what time the middle school lets out because if it’s that time, you can’t get through,” she said.
Sandra Gonzalez, with Hillsborough County’s Capital Programs Department, said the county is well aware of the problem.
“The county identified, several years ago, the need for an improvement,” she said.
Now, a fix is in the works. According to Gonzalez, the county is designing a slate of improvements that will include a wider sidewalk along a portion of the south side of North Mobley, a new drainage ditch, and a paved shoulder on North Mobley that the school car line can use, which should allow through-traffic, emergency vehicles, and drivers like Davis to pass through the area
“That would, I think, help the situation quite a bit,” Davis said.
Other neighbors ABC Action News spoke with agreed. Some, however, suggested that other improvements are also needed.
One said speed bumps or other measures are needed to slow traffic in the school zone. Others said improvements would also be needed to relieve congestion at North Mobley’s intersection with Gunn Highway.
Gonzalez said the county is also planning safety improvements at the intersection of North Mobley Road and Gunn Highway, as well as Gunn Highway and Race Track Road.
Right now, however, Hillsborough County needs feedback about the portion of the fix planned for the area of Walker Middle. You can send the county your thoughts at this link.
Hillsborough County hopes to acquire the land it will need for the project in 2023 and start construction in mid-2024.
