Pasco County residents say traffic is getting considerably worse in the State Road 54/56 corridor. Now, the county hopes it can come up with a plan to ease the pain.

“During certain times of day it’s just ridiculous. No one wants try to drive here because it's six lanes of free parking, and the traffic is always backed up,” resident Derrick Thomas said.

“I try to avoid it at all costs,” resident Jan Casey said.

Thomas and Casey aren’t alone with their complaints about state roads 54 and 56 traffic. Many say it’s time for something to be done about the bumper-to-bumper traffic that happens at least a few times a day.

“We have traffic areas out there that are handling somewhere upwards of 60,000 to 70,000 trips a day on a six-lane roadway,” County Transportation Manager James Edwards said. There’s even more bad news: “We see that doubling in the next 12 to 15 years,” Edwards aid.

With the new Tampa Premium Outlets set to open in October, residents are having mixed feelings.

“Right now, we’re having a hard time with the just normal everyday traffic, so I can just imagine once we have people coming from different counties it’s going to get really bad there,” Thomas said.

Currently there's some work being done for traffic relief. FDOT is working to optimize the timing of the traffic lights at the I-75 interchange. It is also widening State Road 54 to six lanes between Suncoast Parkway and U.S. 41. All smaller projects should help with the bigger problem.

However, Edwards says the county needs something bigger.

“Re-engaging the public, we plan to have task teams east and west of U.S. 41, standing task teams that help us direct improvements this corridor could actually pursue,” he said.

The task force groups will begin meeting this summer and are expected to have a proposed long-term plan within eight months. The county says once the planning study is complete, implementation will take place over the next 20 years.

FDOT says it also has a future study in the works to look at rebuilding the entire State Road 56/I-75 interchange.