Big improvements may be on the way for U.S. 19, one of the busiest roads in the Tampa Bay area.

  • County leaders ask legislature for $2 million in funding
  • Landscaping would include palm trees on roadsides, medians
  • Improvements to Moog Road also part of proposal

Pasco County is asking for state funding for new signage and landscaping that would give the area a better look. Those changes could also help make the road safer, too.

News of the possible change excited business owner Robbie Malki, owner of Carwash King on U.S. 19 in Port Richey.

"Everybody loves new, everybody loves clean. So if we're going to make this county look new and clean, I feel it will just attract more people to come here and do business out here," Malki said.

County leaders have asked the state legislature for $2 million in funding. That money would go to new signs and landscaping at the north and south gateways to Pasco County.

That is in addition to fixes at other major entryways as well, such as Moog Road and state roads 52 and 54.

County Administrator Dan Biles said the landscaping can also work as traffic calming measures.

"It will highlight where pedestrians are crossing," he said. "Where we have a lot of pedestrian traffic, it will show better for drivers and make those crossings safer."

The landscaping will include things such as palm trees, which will go on the side of the road and also in medians.

The funding is being looked at now in the state legislature. County leaders hope to have an answer in the coming weeks.