And traffic is likely to intensify thanks to a $50-million expansion under construction that will bring another 150,000 square feet of merchants to the regional mall. The shopping center already attracts more than 10 million shoppers annually.
But it’s not just the mall that’s feeling the heat; it’s also the slew of retailers that encircle the mall. One of Helmer’s jobs as the area’s community resource officer assigned by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is to find ways to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
One suggestion merchants have discussed is to build a cut-through between the Tia’s Tex-Mex and Smokey Bones restaurants, which will help relieve traffic to and from Barnes & Noble Booksellers and Romano’s Macaroni Grill. The cut-through, Helmer said, “would enable traffic to flow from Toys ‘R’ Us to Romano’s without coming out on the main road,” Brandon Town Center Drive, which provides access from State Road 60 into the mall to the south and into the Regency Square shopping center to the north.
But that suggestion will have to wait. Tia’s has closed and a new tenant has yet to be announced.
The real solution, said Helmer, is for the county to find a way to complete the final link of Gornto Lake Road.
The road now runs from Bloomingdale Avenue north, crossing Causeway Boulevard into the mall property, providing another north-south corridor through Brandon designed to alleviate gridlock.
However, the road stops just short of its full intent by dead-ending between Brandon TownCenter Boulevard and BuddyFreddy’s before connecting to State Road 60. The reason is because Hillsboro Memorial Gardens cemetery and wetlands stand in the way.
Last year county commissioners agreed to revive a stalled 2003 study into alternative routes to connect that final link. The $1.5 million study is being financed with impact fees from the Lake Brandon development. The county is now negotiating with the mall owners, the owners of Parkview Oaks, a mixed use project off Brandon TownCenter Boulevard and another property near Interstate 75 and State Road 60 zoned for a hotel to see how they can negotiate a road through without disturbing the cemetery or wetlands.
Bob Gordon, director of public works for the county, expects it will be two years before a plan is in place and construction can begin. Estimates on constructing the final link are more than $14 million.
Helmer and mall merchants hope to get an update on the project as well as ideas to relieve traffic around the mall when the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce hosts a transportation forum Jan. 30 at noon at the Brandon Elks Lodge, 800 Centennial Lodge Drive.
On tap is a panel discussion with regional transportation experts on roadway projects and regional initiatives that impact the greater Brandon area, including the Gornto Lake Road extension.
Helmer noted one problem with mall traffic is that people use the mall to cut-through from Lumsden Road/Causeway Boulevard to State Road 60 and the Interstate-75 interchange.
“The mall is most congested on the east side,” Helmer said. “If we get the Gornto Lake Road extension and add it on as another entrance and exit to the mall, we may be able to decrease congestion on that (east) side. And I honestly think that most of the congestion on the east side comes from cut-through traffic.”
He added that attempts to control traffic by changing traffic-light cycles often make things worse elsewhere.
“All you’re doing is bottle-necking the traffic somewhere else,” Helmer said. “At some point you can only fit only so many vehicles in an area and we’ve reached that capacity. I’m a firm believer that if you put in all the roads, entrances and cut-throughs, we’re still going to come at some point where traffic is at a standstill.”