At the Nov. 12 meeting of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners, a string of residents from Zephyrhills urged the board to act on persistent speeding, traffic detours and emergency-access problems on Lanier Road after the closure of the Chancey/Morris Bridge.

John Hannon, who identified his address as 3542 Lanier Road, told commissioners that parts of Lanier are privately owned and unsafe. "We have to dish out thousands of dollars every year to maintain our road," Hannon said, adding that sections are so narrow "fire and rescue can't even get down it with their fire trucks." Norman Klein, who lives at 3946 Lanier Road, said the road turns from paved to one-lane dirt and that drivers routinely exceed safe speeds; "The safe speed would be about 10 miles per hour," Klein said.

Allen Lane and Greg Dawson described repeated incidents of speeding, road‑rage and apps routing traffic through private driveways, and said law enforcement has told them deputies cannot act because the road is private. Dawson noted he filed a county claim for damage to a vehicle after hitting a pipe in the roadway; the claim was denied because the county said it does not own the land.

Commissioners and staff acknowledged the disruption caused by the Morris Bridge closure. Chair Starkey asked the county administrator to review connections promised as part of the 2 Rivers project, and Jason Mickle of Public Works told residents he would speak with them and follow up. "I think there's probably multiple paths forward and multiple options to deal with this, and so we'll be looking at those out and report back," Mickle said.

The board did not adopt a formal action at the hearing. Commissioners asked staff to investigate ownership, potential right-of-way donations referenced earlier letters (2018 offer to donate portions), and options ranging from county takeover to permission for property owners to gate or otherwise restrict access. Residents requested faster enforcement or temporary traffic monitoring while longer-term solutions are evaluated.

Next steps indicated on the record: staff will review whether the road can be accepted for county maintenance or whether property owners can be authorized to block access; the board also asked staff to check that planned connectivity commitments tied to 2 Rivers are being met.