This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

52: From Sand Ruts to a State Road

State Road 52 was Pasco's first paved cross-county highway.

Modern-day travelers of State Road 52 might take for granted the ease in which they move from Pasco’s west coast through Land O' Lakes and to Dade City, or vice versa.

However, prior to the mid-1920s, Pasco had no such road. Instead, as a major road network, residents relied upon a meandering course of sand ruts leading to the county seat.

So, how was it that one meandering course of sand ruts became what we now know as State Road 52 — uniting the county’s east and west via the first hard-surfaced, cross-county highway?

Find out what's happening in Land O' Lakeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

County road construction in the 1920s was at an all-time high as commissioners begged and borrowed through special bonds, bank loans and increased millage rates to cover costs.

Pasco already had a good north to south hard-road system consisting of State Aid Road 105 (Dixie Highway/ U.S. 19) on the coast, State Road 5 (U.S. 41) in the center of the county, and State Road 23 (U.S. 301) on the east side, although these roads followed a slightly different route then today.

Find out what's happening in Land O' Lakeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But, what residents needed and desired was a good cross-county highway.

According to some accounts, the first talks of such a road dated as early as September 1897, but these talks wouldn’t become a reality for another 25 years.

County Clerk Jefferson Hendley advocated building the road through an increased tax levy of forty mills. His proposal outlined the building of 20 miles of road each year until finished—total construction time about two-years.

But, the voters said “no” to the forty mills.

Without the support of the increased millage rate, in the spring of 1922, county commissioners approved a special bond election to pay for the new highway.

They proposed the sale of $500,000 in bonds at 6 percent interest per annum, to be used exclusively for the construction of a hard-surfaced highway from the county seat to a point in the western end of the county on State Aid Road 105 [Dixie Highway/ U.S. 19], about 2 miles south of Hudson and routed via San Antonio, Pasco, and Fivay Junction”—the general course of today’s State Road 52.

But, would voters stand for a $500,000 bond measure?

The official ballot was simple, and, on July 25, 1922, residents convened at their regular poling places to cast their vote, either for or against the bond.

Records show 985 registered voters cast their vote that day — the largest turnout was from Dade City.

After a tabulation of results commissioner learned their bond measure passed 917 to 68.

The Zephyrhills precinct had the greatest number of voters opposed to the bond measure. Of the 108 votes cast, 27 were against it.

And, to ensure their bond sales were carried out according to law, commissioners retained a nationally recognized bond attorney whose name eludes records.

Now deemed the Dade City & West Coast Road, in moving forward with the project, the bid process began.

On September 4, 1922, the board approved the first project bid for design work.

For $83.43 per mile and 4 percent of the total construction cost, J.W. Turner agreed to provide all the surveys, design drawings, and maps. Based on these figures, Turner received approximately $23,000 for his engineering services.

After another bidding process for actual road construction, in December 1922 contracts were awarded to two companies for construction of specified sections of roadway, the Finley Method Company and James G. Yeats.

Four months later another contract was awarded to a different company for construction of all bridges along the new road, except at Keebler Slough near Dade City.

Detailed plans called for a macadamized road with 8 inches of crushed rock.

And, following the first bond sales on July 1, 1923, work commenced on schedule.

Commission records reveal soon thereafter, on December 15, 1923, the official name of Pasco Road was assigned to the new west coast highway — a name no longer used.

By February 1924, nearly a year after construction began the deadline for completion was nearing. But, realizing this deadline likely wouldn’t be met, commissioners requested contractors to “put all forces possible” on the project.

This followed with the March 3, 1924, action by the board to extend the James G. Yeates contract for another six months due to unforeseen conditions, those conditions not outlined in records.

But, much greater problems were looming on the horizon. Not only was the road project plagued with delays, funds were also beginning to dwindle.

Hoping to save enough money to actually complete the project, in June 1924 commissioners ordered contractors to reduce the depth of the rock bed from 8 inches to 6 inches on the remaining, uncompleted, portion of roadway.

This stop gap measure seemed to work, but would it be enough to finish the project?

On July 9, 1924, the board unanimously agreed to make a trip over the new road for the purpose of making a formal inspection of work. Immediately following their regular meeting in Dade City the five commissioners piled into a car and headed west.

They liked what they saw and were excited about the highway’s completion.

However, by November 1924, with the road still incomplete, construction funds had depleted entirely, reportedly due to the amount taken to pay bond interest.

Commissioner should have never directed interest to be paid from the $500,000 construction fund, which created a quagmire — the only way to finish the project was to borrow, and that’s what they did.

On November 19, 1924, the board introduced and passed a resolution “to borrow $14,000 from the Bank of Pasco County and to pay interest thereon at the rate of 8% per annum, for completion of the Pasco Road.”

With the borrowed $14,000, on January 5, 1925, the chairman of the board was authorized to pay the final estimates on construction and on receipt of the same from the engineer.

Behind schedule, soon thereafter construction was completed, although the road was already being utilized.

So, how did this county-built road become a state highway?

On May 2, 1939, a bill was passed in the house providing repayment to Florida counties for interest spent on road building bond issues and for all the money spent in building public roads designated or to be designated as state roads.

It was estimated that about $300,000,000 would be paid out to the counties from state gas tax revenue.

Thereafter, our own Pasco Road was designated State Road 210 and began appearing on road maps as such. By the late 1940s the road number was changed to State Route 52.

Today, the western part of our former Pasco Road has grown into six-lanes of high-speed traffic — a significant transformation from the road’s original sand ruts of 90-years-ago.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Land O' Lakes