PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Last month, residents in a Zephyrhills neighborhood spoke out about poor road conditions that included potholes, patch jobs, and crumbling asphalt. Since then, more residents from across Pasco County have come forward to share their frustrations about streets they say have been neglected for years.
Complaints have come from Zephyrhills, Dade City, Wesley Chapel, and Spring Hill. Many residents said they have been told repairs could take years.
Lisa Morrison, who lives near Gateway Boulevard in Wesley Chapel, said she is fed up.
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“It’s like driving on a dirt road. It really is. It’s awful. There’s potholes on potholes on potholes. And patches on potholes and patches. It’s deplorable,” Morrison said.
Gateway Boulevard runs by a group of subdivisions near Wesley Chapel Boulevard, but Morrison said the road was not designed for the amount of traffic it now carries.
“It was built for a corporate park many, many years ago. And I don’t think it was built to handle the traffic that we get,” she said.
Morrison said the county has placed her road on a list for repairs, but she was told it could take at least five years.
In Dade City, residents said they have also waited years for a solution. Debi Welch said Orangewood Drive has become unsafe, forcing people to swerve into the middle of the street to avoid potholes and cracks.
“Show me roads that are worse that take precedence over this, and I’ll be happy to wait,” Welch said.
Welch said she and her neighbors often drive down the wrong side of the road just to find a smoother ride.
“When we drive, we prefer the left-hand side and we’ll drive that side or down the middle,” she said.
A county spokesperson told Tampa Bay 28, “We continue to patch where possible. These roads are not on the calendar for resurfacing within the next five years. Operations will coordinate to place on a long patch paving plan in the meantime.”
In 2023, Pasco County replaced its Residential Paving Assessment Program with a new tax system, the Road Rehabilitation Services Municipal Service Taxing Unit (Roads MSTU), which spreads the costs of road improvements more equitably across unincorporated areas of the county. The MSTU tax rate for Fiscal Year 2025 is 0.4052 mills, meaning homeowners pay $0.4052 per $1,000 of taxable property value—equivalent to $40.52 per $100,000 in taxable value.
Property-value examples:
- A homeowner with $100,000 in taxable value pays $40.52 per year.
- At $200,000, the annual tax is $81.04.
- At $300,000, the cost rises to $121.56.
According to Pasco County’s official paving schedule, dozens of streets are slated for rehabilitation—such as sections of Moon Lake Road, Collier Parkway, and County Line Road—but neither Gateway Boulevard nor Orangewood Drive is listed.
Residents are encouraged to visit the Pasco County 3-Year Road Rehabilitation Work Plan (FY 2025–2027) on the county’s website to check whether their street is included.
“I don’t know how they are judging it. What I know is this is an awful road,” Welch said.
For now, residents across Pasco County continue to wait, navigating rough pavement and wondering when relief will finally come.
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