Pull out of the East Lake Road gate at Woodlands Boulevard, turn north, and in roughly nine-tenths of a mile you reach the Tarpon Woods Boulevard signal. Until this summer, the right-hand northbound lane ended there. Now it carries straight through the intersection at the posted 50 mph and then has to fold back into traffic in front of the Mobil station.
Pinellas County lists that intersection as the one completed piece of its long East Lake Road improvement plan. A countywide traffic safety team has also put it on its problem-locations list. For East Lake Woodlands drivers, this short merge is the corridor project for now. No other project on the road outside the gates breaks ground before summer 2027, and most of them start in 2028 or later.
What the county built at Tarpon Woods
According to the county's project page, the job ran from April to July 2026. Crews turned the chevron-striped area next to the westbound turn lane into a northbound travel lane, then repaved and restriped the intersection. They also removed the concrete island on the east side and shortened the median on Tarpon Woods Boulevard to make room for a new crosswalk. The dedicated eastbound turn lane onto Tarpon Woods Boulevard stayed.
The county's corridor FAQ calls this a temporary improvement that gives northbound drivers three lanes through the intersection instead of two, put in place while the larger study continues. The extra lane only runs through the intersection, though. Past the signal, the road still has two northbound lanes, and the merge back down happens fast.
Why it landed on a safety watch list
On Sept. 3, 2026, the Pinellas Community Traffic Safety Team took up "East Lake Road and Tarpon Woods Boulevard" as a new item. The meeting minutes record these concerns:
- A Clearwater Police Department staff member described the redesign near John Chesnut Sr. Park as a significant safety issue, with three lanes merging into one immediately after the intersection.
- Drivers were traveling at high speeds and making last-minute lane changes, which led to frequent conflicts.
- Another member said she drives the area regularly and believes the design made conditions worse, because drivers have to merge near several driveways.
- The group agreed to add the location to its problem list, review whether engineering changes, enforcement or both are needed, and watch the afternoon peak from 4 to 6 p.m.
Less than three weeks later, Bay News 9 talked with a resident of the Tarpon Woods community who described the new setup as "a cluster" that "has to be re-looked at." She told the station that drivers can now go "straight at 50 mph through the signal" and then have "less than 100 yards to merge into traffic." County officials told the station the change was meant to ease growing congestion while larger fixes are studied, and that they are monitoring the area and "may consider changes if needed."
In the same Bay News 9 report, she asked the county to look at the intersection again before seasonal residents come back and run into a pattern they may not know. That return is happening now. As of Oct. 29, the September minutes were the latest problem-locations sheet available, and the item still read "Date Resolved/Withdrawn: N/A." The team replaced its regular October meeting with a regional summit on Oct. 29. If you are driving back down for the season this month, expect the same merge you would have met in September.
Nothing else on the corridor breaks ground before mid-2027
Tarpon Woods matters this much because of how long the rest of the list takes. Here is every East Lake Road project on the county's corridor page, in the order drivers will meet construction:
| Project | What changes | Construction window |
|---|---|---|
| Tarpon Woods Blvd. lane extension | Third northbound lane through the intersection | April–July 2026, completed |
| Keystone Road intersection | Emergency access and traffic flow improvements | Summer 2027 – late 2028 |
| McMullen Booth northbound off-ramp to Tampa Road | Replaces a 1967 bridge the county rates functionally obsolete and structurally deficient | Spring 2028 – summer 2030 |
| East Lake Road bridges over Brooker Creek | Three 12-foot lanes each way, shoulders and barrier-protected sidewalks | Summer 2028 – summer 2030 |
| McMullen Booth Road bridges over Tampa Road | One added 12-foot lane on each bridge | Early 2030 – early 2032 |
| Full corridor, Curlew Road to Trinity Boulevard | One added lane each way, built to the inside | Starts 2031, in segments |
The Brooker Creek bridges are the ones closest to home. They sit about 1.5 miles north of Tampa Road and date to 1991. Right now the southbound bridge carries two 12-foot lanes. The county's plan widens East Lake Road to six lanes between Cove Drive and Pasado Drive. A 10-foot protected sidewalk on the southbound bridge would connect to the Pinellas Trail, and a 6-foot sidewalk on the northbound side would tie into the east-side sidewalk that serves nearby communities.
Keystone Road is farther north, but it is the next project to break ground. The Tampa Bay Beacon reported in August that the design was 30% complete. At that stage it added an eastbound left-turn lane on Keystone at East Lake Road, more storage for southbound left turns on East Lake Road, another westbound Keystone lane from Buffalo Avenue to East Lake Road, and better signal timing, lighting and crosswalks. The Beacon also quoted a county staff report saying "over 60% of the fatal and injury crashes at the intersection involve rear-ends." Those details describe a design in progress. The final plan could change.
What the 2031 widening is trying to solve
The big project explains why the county added a lane at Tarpon Woods in the first place. The kickoff presentation for its Project Development and Environment study counted 1,780 crashes on the 9.3-mile corridor from 2020 through 2025. It reported 58% of them at signalized intersections and 54% as rear-end collisions. The alternative under study adds one lane in each direction on the inside, using the median. The deck lists eleven intersections for review, including Tampa Road, Boot Ranch, Sandy Point, Ridgemoor, Lansbrook, Keystone and Trinity. County engineer Rafal Kadaj told Tampa Bay 28 the study is evaluating "widening lanes, doing signalization improvements, changing signal timing."
The county's FAQ answers two questions residents tend to ask. The finished road will not look like US 19 with ramps and interchanges, because the extra lane goes inside the existing right-of-way. The Pinellas Trail alignment will not move either, although trail crossings at intersections will be evaluated and could have temporary detours during construction.
Paying for it is still in progress. The presentation estimates the total cost at $178 million. In August, the Tampa Bay Beacon reported that commissioners voted to seek $140 million from FDOT for the widening and a separate $7.96 million federal grant for Keystone, with a county match of about $37 million. The study itself runs through late 2028 and covers data and analysis only, with design scheduled from late 2028 to late 2030.
Where residents can weigh in before 2031
The county has put three ways to give input on its public calendar, in this order:
- Now, at Tarpon Woods. The safety team's item is open, and the county told Bay News 9 it is monitoring the merge. Comments go to the contact listed on the Tarpon Woods project page.
- Dec. 8, 2026, at 6 p.m., for Brooker Creek. The county is holding an online project information meeting where staff and consultants will share the latest bridge design and schedule and answer questions. Registration and a feedback survey are on the Brooker Creek bridges page.
- Spring and summer 2027, for the full corridor. The county expects to hold virtual and in-person sessions as the study moves forward, and it says new alternatives may come out of that process.
The Dec. 8 session is the closest one for East Lake Woodlands residents. It covers the stretch of bridges between the community's East Lake Road gates and the corridor's northern end, and any decisions made now will shape construction that starts in summer 2028.
Traffic on East Lake Road affects which stretch of the community fits a daily commute, and that question comes up often for buyers and sellers in East Lake. If you'd like to talk through how the corridor schedule fits your own plans, the Kathie Lea Team follows these projects closely and is glad to help. When you're ready, start your home search with an agent who knows the road you'll be driving.
